Preview: Ducks Face Off with Sharks Tonight in San Jose

The Ducks will head up the California coast to meet a familiar foe tonight, taking on the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.
PUCK DROP: 7:30 P.M. | TV: ESPN | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER

The Ducks begin a brief three-game western trek, which bookends a trip to Vancouver with stops in San Jose. The Ducks will look to round their road game into form after going 0-4-1 on the first trip of the year.
"When we play on the road and there are line matches, we have to remember to play behind them and get the puck in their end," Troy Terry said. "When you're on the road, and they have the crowd behind them, you have to play a more simple game. I think that's when we're at our best.
"On that last road trip, we did it here and there, but we just weren't consistent with it. We played some really good teams that will make you pay if you take your foot off the gas pedal."
Anaheim will have to continue to tweak its defensive corps without Jamie Drysdale, who will miss four-to-six months with a torn labrum.
"For our team, it's a massive blow," head coach Dallas Eakins said. "That kid is a big part of our team, especially our backend. His last three or four games, he really started to turn it up a notch. It's devastating for our team, so we'll have to have other people step up and take those minutes."
Drysdale will have surgery in the near future and begin his rehab process. It remains to be seen if he could potentially return late this season.
"He's a young man we'll have to keep a very close eye on," Eakins said. "He's a hockey nerd. He loves to play. He loves to compete. He thinks about the game every day...The good thing is we have lots of great support around here for him. I have no doubt he'll come back stronger and better."
Eakins said the Ducks will further lean on the club's quartet of veteran defenders without Drysdale.
"We already are [leaning on] all those d-men," Eakins said. "I thought, to a man, on Sunday all of our vets stood up and steadied us...When you lose a guy like Drys, the ones that are very capable and have been in the league a long time, they're the ones who have to stable the boat a little bit."
Anaheim will look to build off a comeback 4-3 OT win over Toronto on Sunday at Honda Center. The Ducks trailed by two in the third period but rallied to force the bonus session and earned the extra standings point on Trevor Zegras' game winner.

"This group needed that, to have a reward for the work we've been doing," Terry said. "It's a reminder that if we keep doing these things, it will pay off for us. We needed that.
This team's issue has never been how close of a group we are or our ability to work through adversity. We've seen it a lot this year. It's been a challenging season. To go through everything we have been, Sunday night felt like 'oh we're having a good game but it's not going our way again.' It would have been easy to mail it in, down two against a really good hockey team. Being able to come back, stick to doing the right things and not cheating the game, it speaks to the character of this group from top to bottom. It was a big night for everyone in the lineup."
The Ducks visit San Jose to face a team that has also been through its share of challenges early in the season.
The Sharks, who sit 3-8-0 through 11 games, have particularly struggled on home ice (1-4-0).
Despite the team's slow start, veteran defenseman Erik Karlsson has enjoyed a resurgent start to the new campaign, leading the team in goals (six) and points (11).