5 Things - Flames vs. Sharks

1. Back Home

All in all, it was an impressive road swing.

Despite dropping a 2-0 decision to the New York Rangers Monday, the Flames ended a four-game Eastern Conference trip with a 3-1 mark, helping them inch closer into a wildcard spot.

With wins in Boston, New Jersey and Long Island, they now find themselves right in the thick of the race, sitting three points back of a playoff spot.

"We played some really good teams and we came out with a lot of points on that road trip,” Jonathan Huberdeau said. “Obviously, the Rangers was a tough one for us, but it was at the end of it (the road trip).

“Now we’re coming back home. I think we can be better at home, so that’s the kind of stretch that we need to get a lot of points and get into a playoff spot."

Tonight is the first of four meetings against the Sharks, with the Flames looking to pick up where they left off a season ago, when they swept the season series and outscored San Jose 20-9.

It also is the first of four at home, with an opportunity to further climb up the standings and build off their strong run of late.

The ever so popular ‘vibes are immaculate’ saying is the perfect way to describe the buzz in the room lately and rightfully so. Not only have they been picking up wins, but an energy boost from fresh faces in Andrei Kuzmenko and Brayden Pachal, and from familiar faces Jakob Pelletier and Kevin Rooney being back.

And although Pelletier is day-to-day with an upper body injury, the group breathed a sigh of relief it wasn’t worse when he was forced to exit last game early.

“He’s put in a lot of work to come back,” Huberdeau said. “It sucks to go back (on injury) but I was happy that it was minor.

“Gotta take care of my son.”

Spoken like a true proud father.

Kuzmenko meanwhile continues to not only providing outstanding sound bits in interviews, but has made quite the impression on his new teammates with his infectious personality.

All in the while scoring some big goals early in his Flames tenure.

“He’s a bubbly personality, he’s always got a smile on his face,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska said. “You don’t always know what he’s saying, but I think that’s what makes him a pretty good person for our room.

“Guys enjoy having him so far, and I think he’s fit into our group really well so far.”

2. Know Your Enemy

San Jose returned from a week break last night in Winnipeg, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Jets.

Goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen was stellar in goal, stopping 39 shots but the Sharks couldn’t reward the play of their netminder as Connor Hellebuyck needed just 18 saves to backstop Winnipeg to the win. Morgan Barron scored the game’s lone goal.

“Frustration, really. Obviously, we’ve been off for a while here,” San Jose head coach David Quinn told NHL.com after the game. “You could see there were a lot of missed opportunities for us to generate way more offense than we did. It looked like we tried to do the right thing, but we just weren’t. Our timing was off for sure, and obviously Kaapo played well, but we just weren’t efficient with the puck tonight."

With the loss, the Sharks are 4-4-2 in their last ten games and tonight’s stop in Calgary marks the end of a mini two-game trip before returning home Saturday to host Columbus.

It’s no secret that it’s been a struggling season for the Sharks with just 14 wins in 51 games, sitting 31st in the league, and are 5-19-3 on the road this season.

They'll be without the services of captain Logan Couture, who is week-to-week with a groin injury, with the forward having only skated in six games so far this season.

Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that leading scorer Tomas Hertl, who had 34 points in 48 games, will undergo a procedure on his left knee and has been placed on injury reserve.

3. Fast Facts

Better Call Pachal

Earlier this season on October 12th, Brayden Pachal scored his first NHL goal against the San Jose Sharks while also skating at a career-best +3 with the Golden Knights. Pachal was claimed off waivers by Calgary on February 4th, and is slated to skate in his fifth game as a member of the Flames.

Defensive Scoring

After MacKenzie Weegar’s hat trick Saturday in Long Island, Flames defencemen have scored 35 goals which is the second-most by a defensive core in the league this season, trailing only Colorado (44). Weegar leads the charge with 16 tallies, while Noah Hanifin (9), and Rasmus Andersson (7) are currently second and third in scoring among blueliners on the Flames.

4. Right On The Mark

Prior to Monday’s game, Jacob Markstrom was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week, ending February. 11, with a dazzling 3-0 record, stopping 93 shots and recording a .939 save percentage.

The netminder is 4-1 in his last five starts and is one win away from becoming the fifth goaltender in franchise history to hit the century win mark.

5. Players to Watch

Flames – Jonathan Huberdeau

Closing in on 700!

Huberdeau heads into the clash needing just one point to hit 700 career points and is looking to become just the third skater to reach the 700-point plateau from the 2011 draft class.

In his last five tilts, Huby has collected five points and has 17 career points in 18 tilts against the Sharks.

Sharks – William Eklund

The former first rounder has been finding his groove in his first full season in the league, with five points in six games. 

His 24 points is good for third in team scoring and he leads the Sharks in game winning goals with four.