Morning Skate: Sharks battle Flames for position in Pacific

Programming note: Sharks-Flames coverage starts tonight at 5:30pm with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California.

Where they stand
Sharks: 19-18-2, 40 points, 5th Pacific Division
Flames: 19-19-2, 40 points, 6th Pacific Division

The latest

Sharks: San Jose demolished the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, 7-0, including two goals from Tomas Hertl. Martin Jones recorded his fourth shutout with 28 saves, as the Sharks finished 2-3 on a five-game homestand. San Jose makes its only visit to Winnipeg on Tuesday in the second of a back-to-back.

Flames: Arizona got past the Flames in Calgary on Thursday, 2-1, erasing a 1-0 hole courtesy of a goal by leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau. Since winning seven straight from Dec. 1-17, the Flames are 4-5-0.

Keep an eye on…

Sharks: Tomas Hertl. The third-year forward was sparked by a return to the Joe Thornton-Joe Pavelski line, recording a season-high three points (2g, 1a) against the Maple Leafs. Hertl has played well “in spurts” in recent weeks, to borrow a phrase recently used by coach Pete DeBoer, and he’ll look to build off of Saturday’s strong performance.

Flames: Mark Giordano. Recently named to his second All-Star game in as many years, the defenseman has points in eight of his last nine games (4g, 8a) and a +5 rating over that stretch. The 32-year-old leads all Calgary defensemen in goals (10) and points (24).

Probable lines

Sharks
Tomas Hertl – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Matt Nieto – Patrick Marleau – Joel Ward
Tommy Wingels – Logan Couture – Joonas Donskoi
Melker Karlsson – Chris Tierney – Mike Brown

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Dylan DeMelo

Martin Jones
Alex Stalock

Flames
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Michael Ferland
Sam Bennett – Markus Granlund – Josh Jooris
Lance Bouma – Mikael Backlund – David Jones
Brandon Bollig – Matt Stajan – Joe Colborne

Mark Giordano – T.J. Brodie
Kris Russell – Dougie Hamilton
Deryk Engelland – Dennis Wideman

Karri Ramo (confirmed starter)
Jonas Hiller

Vitals

Sharks
Goals per game: 2.77 (9th)
Goals-against per game: 2.77 (23rd)
Power play: 20.6 percent (7th)
Penalty kill: 81.8 percent (11th)

Flames
Goals per game: 2.60 (15th)
Goals-against per game: 3.08 (29th)
Power play: 12.7 percent (30th)
Penalty kill: 74.2 percent (30th)

Injuries/Scratches

Sharks: Dainius Zubrus (undisclosed) is day-to-day.

Flames: Jiri Hudler (lower body) and Michael Frolik (upper body) are out.

Season series

The Sharks and Flames have split their first two games. San Jose won at SAP Center, 5-2 on Nov. 28, while Calgary also defended its home ice on Dec. 8, 4-2.

Calgary returns to San Jose on Feb. 11, while the Sharks close out the five-game season series at Saddledome on March 7.

Odds and ends

*Saturday’s 7-0 win was the Sharks’ highest margin of victory since a 9-2 beating of the Rangers on Oct. 8, 2013.

*San Jose is 15-2 when scoring first, the second highest points-percentage in the NHL (.882). It is 4-16-2 when allowing the first score.

*Calgary is 13-8-0 at home, while the Sharks are 13-6-2 on the road.