Sharks at Golden Knights preview

It is the first game of a home-and-home with the teams playing at SAP Center in San Jose on Friday.

Last season, the Sharks eliminated the Golden Knights from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference First Round. After trailing 3-1 in the series, San Jose won the final three games, including in overtime of Game 7 after rallying from three goals down in the third period.

Logan Couture will play his first game with the Sharks since being named the 10th captain in their history on Sept. 12 after Joe Pavelski signed with the Dallas Stars as a free agent on July 1.

Players to watch

Couture has six points (three goals, three assists) in eight games against Vegas. 

Golden Knights center Cody Glass, who was the first draft pick in Vegas history (No. 6 in 2017), will make his NHL debut and skate with Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone on the second line.

They said it

"The rivalry is real. There's not much love between both of us, so as a player, I love playing games like that. Brings out more emotion individually and as a team." -- Sharks captain Logan Couture

"Everyone's been talking about [the rivalry] all summer, and they're going to talk about it for months after this. We can't get caught up in it. We know every year they're one of the best teams in the League. They have superstars over there and they're a measuring stick every year in the West." -- Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty

Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Logan Couture -- Danil Yurtaykin

Lean Bergmann -- Tomas Hertl -- Lukas Radil

Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc

Melker Karlsson -- Barclay Goodrow -- Dylan Gambrell

Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Brent Burns

Brenden Dillon -- Erik Karlsson

Mario Ferraro -- Dalton Prout

Martin Jones

Aaron Dell

Scratched: Tim Heed, Jonny Brodzinski

Injured: Radim Simek (knee)

Suspended: Evander Kane

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith

Max Pacioretty -- Cody Glass -- Mark Stone

Brandon Pirri -- Paul Stastny -- Valentin Zykov

William Carrier -- Tomas Nosek -- Ryan Reaves

Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt

Jon Merrill -- Shea Theodore

Nick Holden -- Deryk Engelland

Marc-Andre Fleury

Malcolm Subban

Scratched: Jimmy Schuldt

Injured: Alex Tuch (upper body), Cody Eakin (undisclosed), Zach Whitecloud (upper body)

Status report

Kane is serving a three-game suspension for physical abuse of officials. … Tuch is week to week and Eakin is day to day. … Vegas assigned defenseman Nic Hague and forward Nicolas Roy to Chicago of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.

Stat pack

Sharks general manager Doug Wilson is one win from tying Conn Smythe (682) for 19th in NHL history. … Burns is two goals from 200 in the NHL. … Fleury will play his 799th NHL game and look to tie a League record with his 10th win in a season opener (Curtis Joseph, Martin Brodeur). … William Karlsson is one assist from 100 in the NHL. … Vegas is 5-1-2 against the Sharks in the regular season and 3-1-0 at home, where it has outscored San Jose 16-9.