Preview/Lines #45: Ferraro Update, Megna Enjoys Florida Homecoming

WELCOME GUEST WRITER KAT PITRE! KAT CURRENTLY COVERS THE SAN JOSE SHARKS AT FEAR THE FIN AND HOSTS THE “THIS IS HOCKEY CULTURE” PODCAST. 

Games spent in a players’ home state are always special, with family and friends in attendance to show support, and a hometown crowd to stand behind them (even if the hometown crowd is, technically, against them).

Jaycob Megna is one of 15 NHL’ers born in Florida – South Florida, to be exact – and the Sharks’ tilt, a 5-4 OT loss against the Florida Panthers, was a homecoming of sorts.

“It’s always good to come home for a little bit, it’s nice to get a couple days to see my family, have a home-cooked meal,” said Megna, of being back in the Sunshine State.

While Megna was born in Plantation, just miles from FLA Live Arena, his family moved to Chicago when he was a toddler, and it was there, in the Windy City, that Megna and his older brother, Jayson, found their way into hockey.

“I grew up in Chicago, and obviously my brother is what got me into it, and for him and my whole family, we didn’t know what to do in the winters in Chicago, everyone being from Florida, so my mom got us in the ice rink pretty early on and we both just fell in love with it,” Megna said, smiling. “My sister was a figure skater, so we spent a lot of hours at the rink growing up.”

Jayson Megna is two years older than Jaycob and plays in the Colorado Avalanche organization.

Megna spent childhood holidays with his extended family in Florida, then his parents moved back to Fort Lauderdale when he was in college. And it’s clear that while he grew up in Chicago, Florida is its own kind of home too.

“I now spend most of my summers down here, in the past five or six years,” said Megna.

So were both sides of the Megna clan responsible for a season-high crowd at FLA Live?

By the way, this was the largest crowd of the year at FLA Live Arena: 18,152 tickets sold to see #TimeToHunt put on a show against #SJSharks.

Previous high was 15,857 versus the New York Rangers. Guess Panthers fans were really excited to see Joe Thornton play the Sharks?

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 30, 2022

“Quite a few,” Megna offered, when asked how many family members were going to be in the building. “Not quite sure the number.”

San Jose Sharks (22-19-3)

An overtime loss to the division-leading Florida Panthers may prompt some changes in the lineup, especially given an injury to Mario Ferraro, and the possibility of Jake Middleton’s return. This is how the Sharks stacked up in their last game, but we’ll see how the Sharks line up ahead of puck drop.

Boughner says forward lines will be the same as yesterday's practice, that means Reimer starts, and…

Dahlen-Couture-Meier
Balcers-Hertl-Barabanov
Cogliano-Bonino-Nieto
Gadjovich-Weatherby-Gregor

Ferraro-Burns
Vlasic-Simek
Megna-Meloche

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 29, 2022

This morning, Boughner relayed San Jose Sharks line changes and Ferraro’s status:

Merkley will go in for Ferraro, Pederson for Weatherby, Viel for Gadjovich. Reimer starts

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 30, 2022

Boughner is very hopeful that Ferraro will be ready for #SJSharks first game after break: "He's a warrior."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 30, 2022

Boughner says Megna-Burns, Vlasic-Merkley, Simek-Meloche are pairings tonight

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 30, 2022

Boughner says Ferraro had dental work this morning (so had to deal with a ton of pain overnight) and is sore, but managed to come down and say (or mumble) hi to the guys at breakfast: "That's the kind of guy he is."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 30, 2022

Practice in the sunshine state ☀️ pic.twitter.com/GCWsa6VtbP

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 28, 2022

Carolina Hurricanes (30-9-2)

The Carolina Hurricanes have been on a tear during the month of January, having won eight of their eleven games thus far, including their past three games. They’ll be a formidable opponent for the Sharks. Per the Daily Faceoff, this is how Carolina’s lines may stack up against the Sharks.

Martinook – Aho – Jarvis
Svechnikov – Trocheck – Necas
Niederreiter – Staal – Fast
Lorentz – Kotkaniemi – Stepan

Slavin – Deangelo
Skjei – Pesce
Cole – Bear

Raanta, Andersen

Antti Raanta played yesterday, however, so Fredrik Andersen should get the start tonight.

Where to Watch

Puck drop between the Carolina Hurricanes and San Jose Sharks is at 2:00 PM PT at the PNC Arena. Watch it live on ESPN+, Bally Sports South, and NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network