NHL Gameday: Sharks visit Calgary, down another defenseman

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Programming note – Sharks-Flames coverage starts today at 6:00 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

WHERE THEY STAND

Sharks: 25-14-2, 52 points, 1st Pacific Division
Flames: 22-19-2, 46 points, 4th Pacific Division

PREGAME NEWS AND NOTES

***The Sharks will be down at least one player from Tuesday’s win in Edmonton, as Dylan DeMelo was immediately ruled out by coach Pete DeBoer after taking what looked to be an inadvertent slash on the wrist by Zack Kassian in the second period. That means either Mirco Mueller or Tim Heed will play, likely paired with Brenden Dillon on the third pair.

San Jose welcomed Marc-Edouard Vlasic back into the lineup against the Oilers, after Mueller had played in the previous three games, getting a goal and an assist against Detroit on Saturday.

***The Sharks concluded the first half of the season on Tuesday night in Edmonton with 52 points. That’s eight points ahead of where they were this time last season (21-18-2, 44 points).

The Sharks have scored nine fewer goals over the first half than they did last season (117-108), but they’ve allowed 20 fewer (113-93).

***San Jose is 4-2 in the second of back-to-backs this season. Calgary, which has not played since a 2-0 loss in Winnipeg on Monday, is 4-3-0 since the Christmas break.

***This is the third of five games between the Sharks and Flames. The first two were both at SAP Center, with the Flames winning on Nov. 3, 3-2, and the Sharks exacting some revenge on Dec. 20, 4-1.

KEEP AN EYE ON...

Sharks: Melker Karlsson. The Sharks’ fourth line generated three goals last night, all from Mikkel Boedker, with Karlsson getting an assist on Boedker’s second score and finishing with a plus-three rating. It was the second straight game where the fourth line had an impact, and Karlsson seems to be gaining chemistry with Boedker, too.

Flames: Johnny Gaudreau. The Flames’ only All-Star is tied for the team lead with 27 points (10g, 17a), despite missing 10 games with a broken finger. He’s averaged a point-per game since returning on Dec. 4, with five goals and 11 assists in his last 16 games.

PROBABLE LINES

Sharks
Timo Meier – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Kevin Labanc – Logan Couture – Joonas Donskoi
Patrick Marleau – Chris Tierney – Joel Ward
Melker Karlsson – Micheal Haley – Mikkel Boedker

Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Mirco Mueller – Brenden Dillon

Martin Jones
Aaron Dell (starter)

Flames
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Alex Chiasson
Matt Tkachuk – Mikael Backlund – Michael Frolik
Kris Versteeg – Sam Bennett – Michael Ferland
Lance Bouma – Matt Stajan – Garnet Hathaway

Mark Giordano – Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie – Dennis Wideman
Jyrki Jokipakka – Deryk Engelland

Chad Johnson (starter)
Brian Elliott

INJURIES

Sharks: Dylan DeMelo (wrist), David Schlemko (upper body) and Tomas Hertl (right knee sprain) are out.

Flames: Ladislav Smid (neck) and Troy Brouwer (hand) are out.

QUOTEABLE

“Now you’ve got to expect to go out and – not score a hat trick every night, because nobody can do that – but play well, do what’s expected of me, and just make sure that I do the things that I’m relied on to do and relied on from the other guys to do.” – Mikkel Boedker

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