Jim Montgomery's Dallas Stars (8-6-1) begin a four-game homestand on Thursday night when they play host to Peter DeBoer's San Jose Sharks (8-4-3). Game time at the American Airlnes Center is 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.

The Stars have been a very busy team of late. They will be in action for the seventh time in 12 games. Dallas, which thus far is undefeated (4-0-0) in games against Pacific Division opponents, has been a good club at home so far this season. The Stars are 5-2-0 on home ice this season, as opposed to 3-4-1 on the road. On Tuesday, the Stars suffered a 4-1 road setback at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Montgomery's team will feature a new face in the lineup. On Wednesday, the team recalled winger Denis Gurianov from the AHL's Texas Stars while reassigning Justin Dowling to the farm team. The 21-year-old Gurianov, whom the Stars drafted with the 12th overall pick of the first round in the 2015 NHL Draft, has been on a tear of late in Cedar Park, posting 12 points (six goals, six assists) over his last nine games. He made his NHL for Dallas last season but this game will be his first in the NHL this season. He'll skate on right wing with team captain Jamie Benn and veteran center Jason Spezza as his linemates. He may also see second power play unit duties against the Sharks.

San Jose is coming off a 4-3 home win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday to complete a four-game homestand. It was an up-and-down homestand for the Sharks. One of the two wins came via latter third period comeback and OT victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in a game in which the Sharks never led in regulation. Tomas Hertl, who was injured in the Philadelphia game, remains out of the San Jose lineup with a head injury.

San Jose has done reasonably well on the road overall this season, except for an ugly shutout loss to the New York Islanders in a Columbus Day matinee. Overall, the club is 4-2-2 on the road.

Thursday's game in Dallas is a potential double-milestone night for ageless Sharks center Joe Thornton. He will dress in his 1,500th career NHL regular season game. If he scores a goal, it will be number 400 of his career.

Projected lineups (per Stars Inside Edge)

STARS

Devin Shore - Tyler Seguin - Valeri Nichushkin
Jamie Benn - Jason Spezza - Denis Gurianov
Blake Comeau - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Mattias Janmark - Jason Dickinson - Gemel Smith

Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Dillon Heatherington - Julius Honka

Anton Khudobin
[Ben Bishop]


Scratches: Alexander Radulov (lower body), Marc Methot (lower body), Brett Ritchie (upper-body), Connor Carrick (foot), Stephen Johns (IR, suspected post-concussion issues), Martin Hanzal (IR, back).


SHARKS

Evander Kane - Joe Pavelski - Joonas Donskoi
Timo Meier - Logan Couture - Kevin Labanc
Barclay Goodrow - Joe Thornton - Marcus Sorensen
Rourke Chartier - Antti Suomela - Melker Karlsson

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon - Erik Karlsson
Joakim Ryan - Brent Burns

Martin Jones
[Aaron Dell]

Scratched: Radim Simek (healthy), Tim Heed (healthy), Tomas Hertl (head).

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