Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen will make his first start of the season Saturday as the Sharks look to split the two-game Global Series with the Nashville Predators at O2 Arena in Prague.
James Reimer made 28 saves Friday in the Sharks’ 4-1 loss to the Predators, who scored twice in the second period to take the lead for good.
Kahkonen played in 11 games for the Sharks last season after he was acquired from the Minnesota Wild, going 2-6-1 with a .916 save percentage and 2.86 goals against average. He signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract extension with the Sharks in July.
The Sharks are also inserting Jaycob Megna for Scott Harrington on defense, and Evgeny Svechnikov will take the lineup spot of Noah Gregor, who had one shot on goal in 12:20 of ice time in Friday’s loss.
“We want to match the physicality and just be sound defensively,” Megna told the Sharks Audio Network. “I think our game kind of builds from our back end out, so we can be good in our own zone and get inside. We talked about the small rink that we can play in there and dominate those key areas. I think that’ll bode well for tonight.”
The Sharks are looking to avoid their second 0-2-0 start in the last five years, and Jose has now lost five straight games to the Predators since the end of the 2019-2020 season.
But Nashville is starting goalie Kevin Lankinen on Saturday, not Sharks-killer and 2021-2022 Vezina Trophy finalist Juuse Saros, who stopped 30 of 31 shots Friday.
Sharks coach David Quinn said when Noah Gregor is on his game he plays with speed and hardness and grit. Said he didn’t see enough of that last night, Svechnikov played well in the exhibition and wanted to get him in. Said he expects Gregor to be a “big player” for SJ this year. — Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) October 8, 2022
“I feel good about tonight. I really do,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “I think we’re going to really make a big step tonight, play a much cleaner, better hockey game and get back to doing the things, the signs that we showed during the exhibition season.
“It was only exhibition season, but we were doing the things we’re going to need to do to have success and I think we’ll get back to that tonight.”
Rookie forwards William Eklund and Thomas Bordeleau will remain out of the Sharks’ lineup for the second straight game and could be on their way to the AHL once the team returns from Europe.
The Sharks and Predators were allowed to take extra players to Europe but per CapFriendly, have to be salary cap compliant using only the players who were on the trip. The Sharks took 16 forwards, eight defensemen, and three goalies on the trip, and will need to get their roster down to 23 players.
The Sharks’ next two games are in San Jose, as they host Brent Burns and the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday and the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Before the game with the Blackhawks, the Sharks will honor Doug Wilson, the team’s captain from 1991 to 1993 and general manager from 2003 until earlier this year.
As part of the ceremony, a banner will be unveiled at SAP Center, detailing Wilson’s contributions to the team as a player and executive.