EMPTY THE TANKS

SAN JOSE - One month ago, the Sharks drew blood.
And the Flames haven't forgotten.
"We lost in our own building," Noah Hanifin said of the 4-1 loss on Nov. 9. "It's something we focused on a bit this morning, was getting that back.
"Anytime you play a divisional team, you remember that. We've got them four times this year and you want to win those games in your division, you want to push teams down. Last time, we didn't do that and it's definitely fresh in our minds to get it back tonight."

The Flames - playing their fourth game in six nights - have a chance to turn a 'good' trip into a 'great' one with a win tonight, and head home with six of a possible eight points.
The Sharks, though, have taken some big strides of late. They're coming off a five-game trip of their own, which included wins over the Blackhawks, Devils and Islanders.
But the Flames aren't concerning themselves with what stands on the other side, formidable as they are.
Following a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, the visitors know they have some areas of their game to clean up tonight at the Shark Tank.
Job 1 is tidying up the D zone, where the Flames have given more up in the past few games than they're typically accustomed.
"I think, honestly, a lot of that stems from possessing the puck a little bit more and creating more offence," Hanifin said. "Especially as defencemen, I think we can do a better job of creating second chances for our forwards and getting more shots, and joining the play a bit more.
"That's something we addressed and are looking to improve on."

One thing the Flames have really excelled at this year is bouncing back after a loss of any kind. They haven't let any bad habits creep into their game, or have the setbacks pile up, because they've bought into the process.
Their preparation - that innate, present-day mindset - has allowed the Flames to focus on a singular task and not let the picture get too big.
On this trip alone, the players have talked endlessly about how that's a 'Darryl' trait.
The bench boss has a way of motivating the troops while keeping them fresh - even when the schedule has made the demands on their bodies more difficult.
Tonight, the Flames will play their league-leading 17th road game and this, like all the others before it, is the biggest game of the year.
"(Sutter) makes winning the most important thing," said Milan Lucic. "He does everything and prepares to give us the best chance to win. That's all his focus goes into, whether it's pumping us up or focusing on a weakness, or focusing on a strength of ours. He does a really good job of motivating so that you are ready to play and makes every game really important. Those are the things he tries to do to do all that."

The Flames are 11-3-2 away from the Scotiabank Saddledome this year, and their .750 road point percentage is far and away the tops on the circuit.
It's almost impossible to put into perspective how impressive this is, considering the Flames opened the season almost a week later than most, and in the span of only a few weeks, have already visited three of the league's four time zones.
All told, they enter tonight's contest with a division-leading 15-5-5 record - one of the best in franchise history through 25 games since Lanny and Co. brought home the Cup in 1989.
"I guess it's cool to be there in that conversation with such a great team," Lucic laughed. "But I think the reason why we're there is because we're taking it game-by-game, day-by-day. I've said it before, Darryl's one of those guys that doesn't let the highs get too low and the lows get too low. He said it the other day, he's a neutral guy and wants things to be neutral on a day-to-day basis. It's cool to be with those guys, but at the end of the day, we've still have a lot of work left to do to go to where we want to go."
These are the games that help get there - the character-building kind. The ones where it would be easy, after a long trip, to check out and let the chips fall.
But not with this group.
Not ever.
"This is our third big road trip of the year so far and it feels like we've been on the road for the whole season," Lucic said. "But it's another opportunity to come out with a successful road trip with a winning record - and it's not going to be easy tonight against a good San Jose team that we lost to earlier this year.
"It's about focusing on the little things and putting all your time and energy into having a good start."