Flames at Sharks
The San Jose Sharks have experienced a reversal of fortune from last season, when they recorded a franchise-best win total on the road while barely able to keep their heads above water at home. The SAP Center has seen a better performance from its tenants this season as San Jose looks to remain perfect at home on Thursday when it hosts the Pacific Division-rival Calgary Flames.
While the Sharks are the Western Conference's lone unbeaten team at home (4-0-0), they saw their three-game win streak come to an end on Tuesday with a 3-1 setback at Arizona to fall to 2-4-0 on the road. Former Coyote Mikkel Boedker scored and Tomas Hertl set up a pair of tallies to extend his point streak to three games (two goals, three assists) for San Jose. The Flames have barely seen a spark out of their offense, having mustered one goal in a 3-1 loss to Washington on Sunday and again two nights later in a 5-1 setback to Chicago that marked the opener of a four-game road trip. "We have to shoot the puck more, and we've got to execute," Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We can’t be fumbling around and think we're going to have a good power play. We've got to get a little more fluid."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, SN360 (Calgary), CSN-California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE FLAMES (4-6-1): Michael Frolik scored his team high-tying fifth goal on Tuesday, matching Johnny Gaudreau and Mikael Backlund for top honors. Mark Giordano would love to get in on the offensive side of things, but the captain has failed to record a point in four consecutive outings and has just five (one goal, four assists) this season. The 33-year-old fared well in five meetings with San Jose last season, collecting a goal and five assists.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (6-4-0): Patrick Marleau is San Jose's all-time leading scorer and the 37-year-old told CSNBayArea.com that he feels he has more in the tank. "Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah," Marleau said on Wednesday when asked if he'd like to extend his career into a 20th NHL campaign in 2017-18 despite currently being in the last season of a three-year deal. "I've liked his game through the first 10," coach Peter DeBoer said of Marleau, who scored his third goal of the season on Tuesday and finished with a plus-2 rating. "I think he's been one of our better players."
OVERTIME
1. Calgary's special teams are leaving plenty to be desired as the club is 4-for-41 with the man advantage and has permitted at least one power-play goal in four consecutive contests.
2. Sharks D Brent Burns recorded two goals and five assists in five games versus the Flames last season.
3. Calgary has won 51.9 percent of its faceoffs in 2016-17, a significant improvement considering the team has finished in the bottom five of the league in each of the last five seasons.