SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Florida Panthers will turn to backup goaltender Akira Schmid on Thursday when they face the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at 10 p.m. ET, the second game of a season-opening road trip that began with a 1-0 overtime win at Carolina.

Schmid, 26, signed with Florida as a free agent in the summer and carries a career record of 32-28-10 with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage across 82 appearances. He owns a 5-1-0 record in the month of October. He takes over from Jacob Markstrom, who posted a 15-save shutout in Tuesday’s opener against the Hurricanes.

“It was professional,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the gritty Carolina win. “They play such a hard game. There’s not a lot of easy ice out there or open ice. There’s not a lot of room for creativity. I didn’t think we forced a whole bunch of stuff. Both teams will look at their power play. Execution is the place probably to finish on some plays, but the penalty kill was pretty darn good, so we were pleased with the mindset of our team.”

The Panthers’ penalty kill was a particular bright spot against Carolina, going a perfect 6-for-6 - including surviving an extended 5-on-3 - while allowing just six shots on goal while shorthanded. Defenseman Gustav Forsling logged 5:37 of shorthanded time on ice, the most among all Panthers skaters, and scored the game-winning goal in overtime. Florida also led all 15 NHL teams that had played a game by racking up 43 hits, with Sam Bennett pacing the club with seven. Fifteen different Panthers recorded at least one hit.

The matchup against San Jose presents a different tactical challenge. Maurice noted the shift from facing Carolina’s physical, man-to-man structure to the Sharks’ trapping zone system. “That’s the great test because we’re going to go from kind of a wing lock, man-to-man team to a trapping zone team,” Maurice said. “It’s a more Western Conference style. How do we apply our game to that? That’s a great challenge. It’s not easy to do a switch like this, but a great and valuable lesson.”

Defenseman Seth Jones, who logged a team-high 28:59 of ice time in Tuesday’s win, expects a more open game against San Jose. “I think it’s going to be a little bit more open, a little bit more ice,” Jones said. “They’re a very good team on the rush.”

The Panthers hold a 12-2-0 record against the Sharks since the start of the 2018-19 campaign, leading 55-32 in goals over that span. Matthew Tkachuk has posted 12 points - three goals and nine assists - in seven career games against San Jose since joining Florida.

San Jose opens its season Thursday night. Macklin Celebrini, named the 11th captain in Sharks history on Sept. 25, leads the club at 20 years old - the youngest current captain in the NHL and the youngest in franchise history. Last season, the former first-overall pick finished fourth in Hart Trophy voting after setting the Sharks’ single-season scoring record with 115 points. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov offered measured praise ahead of the matchup. “He’s an unreal player already,” Barkov said. “He hasn’t been in the league for a long time, but he’s already one of the best. He’s a complete player. He plays both ends and puts up a lot of points.”

Second-overall pick Ivar Stenberg, a 19-year-old forward selected in the 2026 NHL Draft, is expected to make his NHL debut Thursday. The Swedish forward recorded five points in three preseason games and was named Sweden’s Junior Player of the Year in 2025-26 after leading all SHL U-20 players in both points with 33 and assists with 22. Yaroslav Askarov gets the opening-night start in goal for San Jose; the 24-year-old became the first Shark to record 20 or more wins in a season since Martin Jones in 2018-19, finishing last year 21-20-4 in 47 contests.

Thursday’s game at SAP Center tips off at 10 p.m. ET and can be seen on WSFL-TV and WHDT-TV, with radio coverage on 104.3 WQAM-FM and 560 WQAM-AM in Dade and Broward counties.