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In this June 12, 2016, file photo, Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby raises the Stanley Cup after Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the San Jose Sharks in San Jose, Calif.Marcio Jose Sanchez/The Associated Press

The stakes are nowhere near the same: hockey immortality versus two points in the standings in the second week of a long season.

Still, the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins expect the atmosphere to be a little more heated than the usual NHL October product when they meet Thursday night barely four months removed from Pittsburgh's six-game victory in the Stanley Cup Final.

"It was obviously tough to go on that long a journey and lose the way we did," San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. "I don't think there was any doubt at the end of the day they deserved to win, but at the same time I think for us it's a chance to go in, and we're a different team this year, and make a statement that we are a different team this year."

The Penguins are not. They brought back nearly the entire group that captured the franchise's fourth championship. A week removed from a giddy opening night in which the 2016 Cup banner was raised at newly renamed PPG Paints Arena, the Penguins are now focused on the next chapter instead of the last.

The Penguins are coming off sloppy performances in an overtime loss to Colorado on Monday and a 4-0 setback in Montreal on Tuesday. Captain Sidney Crosby – the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the MVP of the 2016 playoffs – remains out indefinitely with a concussion and goaltender Matt Murray is still on the mend from a broken hand.

San Jose (3-1) appears just as sharp as it was last spring when it reached the Cup Final for the first time ever. If the Sharks need a reminder of how close they came, they only need look up at Pittsburgh's banner-strewn rafters.

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