NHL Gameday: First Place Sharks Resume Schedule in Anaheim

Programming note – Sharks-Ducks coverage starts today at 6:30 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

WHERE THEY STAND

Sharks: 21-12-1, 43 points, 1st Pacific Division
Ducks: 17-12-6, 40 points, 3rd Pacific Division

PREGAME NEWS AND NOTES

***The Sharks and Ducks will be meeting for the fourth time this season. San Jose won in overtime at home on Oct. 25, 2-1, but Anaheim has captured the previous two, each by a 3-2 score in regulation.

Due to the mandatory days off for Christmas, the Sharks were not permitted the regular routine of traveling to southern California last night. They held their Tuesday morning skate in San Jose a little earlier than normal before boarding the team charter.

"It's always tricky getting back into it, flying the same day and playing a game," Paul Martin said. "I think we know how important these points are, so I'm sure we'll be focused and ready to go."

Pete DeBoer believes the key after three days off will be to keep it simple. "The team that makes the fewest mental mistakes usually wins these games," he said. "I think that the trap is to try and do too much and get a little bit fancy. We're going to concentrate on that, just trying not to beat ourselves."

Anaheim is 5-0-1 in the last six head-to-head meetings against San Jose, but 2-3-1 in its last six games overall.

***The Sharks will ice the same lineup they used against the Oilers on Friday, meaning Tommy Wingels and David Schlemko will remain healthy scratches.

San Jose has won six of its last seven, including a 3-2 overtime win against Edmonton in its most recent game in which it had a 31-18 advantage in shots.

"We played I thought one of our better games of the year. We didn't give up much," DeBoer said. "No need to change [the lineup]."

***After finishing a run of nine games in 17 days before Christmas, the Sharks will play their only game in a six-day stretch on Tuesday night. They host the Flyers on Friday.

How can one of the older teams in the league utilize that time?

"I'm looking forward to some good practices," DeBoer said. "We haven't had much of that."

Patrick Marleau said: "When you rest up here, you refill the tanks, get some energy back, and now it's time to go use it to our advantage."

KEEP AN EYE ON...

Sharks: Micheal Haley. Now centering the fourth line, Haley will be suiting up for the 15th time in the last 18 games. His role of playing a hard, physical style and dropping the gloves when necessary tends to become more important in certain Pacific Division games, including the Oilers on Friday and, of course, Anaheim, as there is no love lost between the intra-state rivals.

Ducks: Rickard Rakell. The 23-year-old has scored in each of his two games against the Sharks, and leads the Ducks with 14 in just 24 games. The former first rounder from the 2011 draft recently had a career-best six-game point streak from Dec. 3-17. 

PROBABLE LINES

Sharks
Patrick Marleau – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Kevin Labanc – Logan Couture – Mikkel Boedker
Timo Meier – Chris Tierney – Joonas Donskoi
Melker Karlsson – Micheal Haley – Joel Ward

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

Martin Jones (starter)
Aaron Dell

Ducks
Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie – Antoine Vermette – Ondrej Kase
Joseph Cramarossa – Logan Shaw – Jared Boll

Cam Fowler – Sami Vatanen
Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson
Korbinian Holzer – Kevin Bieksa

John Gibson
Jonathan Bernier

INJURIES

Sharks: Tomas Hertl (right knee sprain) is out.

Ducks: Nic Kerdiles (concussion), Nate Thompson (Achilles surgery), Simon Despres (concussion) and Clayton Stoner (lower body) are out.

QUOTEABLE

"They're always tough games, playing your division rivals. We expect the same tonight. It's going to be probably a good game to have right after the holiday, you get everybody right back into it. Big points." – Patrick Marleau

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