Flames, Sharks want all the points they can get (Mar 15, 2018)
CALGARY, Alberta -- The San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames take a breather from watching the standings to trying to affect them.
With the playoffs fast approaching, the division rivals clash Friday in Calgary. Both are coming off victories over the Edmonton Oilers.
"We are all watching the standings, we're all watching the standings, we're all watching the games at night, seeing who's losing," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said.
"There's not much room for error and it's tight, so we know how important these points were and it was a great job of battling back (Wednesday)."
The Sharks (38-23-9) are in a much better position than their opponent. A 4-3 overtime win over the Oilers gave them a three-point edge on the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division in the race to finish second to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Flames (35-26-10) beat the Oilers 1-0 at home the night before but were two points back of the second wild-card spot with 11 games remaining in the regular season heading into Thursday.
Calgary will likely welcome spark-plug Kris Versteeg back to the lineup against Sharks, though coach Glen Gulutzan was publicly non-committal after practice Thursday.
Versteeg was activated from injured reserve on Wednesday after being sidelined because of December hip surgery. He spent four days working out with the American Hockey League's Stockton Heat to prepare for his return to Calgary.
"I just want to play again," he told calgaryflames.com. "I just want to be able to help the team. I just want to get in the playoffs."
They won't have talented agitator Matthew Tkachuk for the second straight game. He missed the game against Edmonton with an undisclosed injury and didn't practice for the second straight day on Thursday. Gulutzan told reporters he won't play.
After the Flames bounced back from a 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders last weekend, Calgary captain Marc Giordano said he and teammates were conscious of holding each other accountable at this time of year to play so bad games don't happen.
"You have to play the right way this time of year or you are not going to win games," Giordano said. "You're not going to win going up and down the ice outscoring people. You're going to win 2-1 and 3-2 most nights. We know how to play those games. We know how to grind, we just have to do it."
The Sharks come to Calgary having won four of their past six games. The most recent was a come-from-behind victory in the third period when defenseman Brenden Dillon tied the score at 9:05 and Thomas Hertl won it 2:40 into overtime.
"I don't know if we want to be doing that too often," Dillon said. "I don't want to make excuses, but after a long homestand, we may have been getting the plane legs out from under ourselves and ended up getting a big two points in the end."
