Sharks at Maple Leafs preview
Marleau to play 1,500th game with San Jose; Andersen in goal for Toronto in first of back-to-back
by Dave McCarthy / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
SHARKS (4-5-1) at MAPLE LEAFS (5-4-2)
7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN1, NBCSCA, NHL.TV
The Game
Patrick Marleau will play his 1,500th game with the San Jose Sharks when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Friday.
Marleau will become the seventh player in NHL history to play at least 1,500 games for the same franchise, joining Gordie Howe (Detroit Red Wings, 1,687), Nicklas Lidstrom (Red Wings, 1,564), Alex Delvecchio (Red Wings, 1,550), Shane Doan (Winnipeg Jets/Arizona Coyotes, 1,540), Ray Bourque (Boston Bruins, 1,518) and Steve Yzerman (Red Wings, 1,514).
It also will be Marleau's first game in Toronto since the Maple Leafs traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes on June 22.
Goalie Frederik Andersen will start for the Maple Leafs, who are playing the first of back-to-back games; they play the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.
Players to watch
Sharks forward Evander Kane has seven points (five goals, two assists) in the past four games.
Maple Leafs forward Kasperi Kapanen has six points (three goals, three assists) in the past four games.
They said it
"We can't be satisfied now. We go into another tough building on Friday night against a team that's going through some tough times. They're going to be fired up, they're very powerful up front, so we're going to have to play well to beat them." -- Sharks captain Logan Couture
"The way he takes care of himself physically, a lot of his routines and things he's done to continue to play at a high level and keep himself healthy and durable, I think that's truly amazing and something I definitely very much admired. Just as a guy, he brings people together." -- Maple Leafs captain John Tavares on Sharks forward Patrick Marleau
Sharks projected lineup
Timo Meier -- Logan Couture -- Patrick Marleau
Evander Kane -- Tomas Hertl -- Kevin Labanc
Barclay Goodrow -- Joe Thornton -- Noah Gregor
Marcus Sorensen -- Dylan Gambrell -- Melker Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon -- Erik Karlsson
Mario Ferraro -- Tim Heed
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Jonny Brodzinski, Trevor Carrick, Lukas Radil
Injured: Radim Simek (leg), Dalton Prout (undisclosed)
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Andreas Johnsson -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Ilya Mikheyev -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Mitchell Marner
Trevor Moore -- Jason Spezza -- Kasperi Kapanen
Dmytro Timashov -- Nicholas Shore -- Frederik Gauthier
Morgan Rielly -- Cody Ceci
Jake Muzzin -- Tyson Barrie
Kevin Gravel -- Justin Holl
Frederik Andersen
Michael Hutchinson
Scratched: Nic Petan, Martin Marincin
Injured: John Tavares (broken finger), Zach Hyman (ACL), Travis Dermott (shoulder)
Status report
The Sharks did not have a morning skate after their 4-2 win against the Canadiens at Bell Centre on Thursday. Jones will start after Dell made 35 saves Thursday. … Rielly took part in an optional morning skate after not practicing Thursday.
Stat pack
Hertl has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past five games. … Nylander has points (one goal, one assist) in consecutive games after going four games without a point.