Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET, the San Jose Sharks (10-2-5, 25 points) and Calgary Flames (6-9-2, 14 points) faceoff live from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary for the second of five meetings between the two teams this season. The game can be live streamed here. San Jose fans can hear all the hard-hitting action by tuning into 98.5 K-FOX while Calgary fans can do the same on Sportsnet 960.
San Jose was the NHL's best team through October, but November hasn't been as kind to them as the team has lost five straight games, with four coming after regulation. Calgary is coming off of a road trip that didn't go as well as the team had hoped as they went 1-3-0 on the swing. In the first meeting between these two teams this season, San Jose topped Calgary 6-3 at home on Oct. 19.
The Sharks latest loss was a heartbreaker in a 5-4 decision to the Winnipeg Jets in the shootout after San Jose gave up the game-tying goal with just over two minutes left in the game and eventually fell. Still, despite the team's struggles in the shootout this season, they have still taken some positives out of it.
"It was better," captain Joe Thornton said of the team's effort in trying to finish, according to MLB.com. "We still got loose a couple of times out there. We're just unable to finish right now. [But] things like that are going to happen. We just have to get better each day and get two points in Calgary."
Thornton leads the team with 15 assists and has added two goals for 17 points while Logan Couture also has 17 points off of seven tallies and 10 helpers. The team is led by Joe Pavelski, who has lit the lamp six times and added 12 assists for 18 points.
The Flames played well in their four-game road trip but still came out with only one win despite great efforts all around. In the final two games of the trip, Calgary fell to the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche by one goal in each game on back-to-back nights. Head coach Bob Hartley wasn't happy with taking a moral victory.
"Good points, bad points, this league is not a feel good league," Hartley said via NHL.com. "Moral victories don't exist and we need to put points on the board. We got two out of eight. It's just not good enough."
Calgary has been paced by Jiri Hudler, who has 19 points off of six goals and 13 assists while Sean Monahan (7-4-11), Mike Cammalleri (7-3-10) and Dennis Wideman (1-9-10) each have contributed thus far.
Joey MacDonald and Karri Ramo have backstopped the Flames for seven games each this season, with MacDonald owning a 3-3-1 record to go along with a 3.17 goals-against average and a .885 save percentage while Ramo is 2-4-1 with a 3.43 GAA and a .887 save percentage. Antti Niemi has played all but two games for the Sharks, boasting a 9-2-5 record with a 2.21 GAA and a .913 save percentage.
The Sharks look to recapture their winning ways while the Flames hope that their recent lack of success on the road won't transfer to home ice when the puck drops in Calgary tonight.
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