Karlsson starting to show some bite
San Jose Sharks’ star defender Erik Karlsson returned from a two-game suspension and made an immediate impact in Saturday’s 7-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
He had a season-high four points (one goal, three assists).
The comfort level is rising in the former Ottawa Senators blue-liner and that only means a challenge for the Calgary Flames (23-12-4) when they play host to the Sharks (21-12-7) on Monday.
Meanwhile, Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk is goalless and pointless in the last two outings, playing with a revolving door of linemates. His scoring power is needed to snap the Flames out of their funk. For a guy who has built a reputation of being a pain-in-the-you-knowwhat, he’s been relatively quiet.
Here are five things to watch for on Monday:
1. Power outage?
The Flames were 0-for-5 on the power play against Vancouver and, not to sound any alarm bells, they’re 0-for-9 in the last two games. They’ve only scored one man-advantage marker in the last five games (1-for-18). This qualifies as a slump. Flames head coach Bill Peters would like to see more of a “shooter’s mentality” on their power play. “A few more shots up top, a little bit better traffic and a little more desperation,” he added.
2. Bounce back
In the last meeting between these two, the Flames committed a pile of turnovers, had a poor start, fed the Sharks’ transition game and were stubborn with their puck management. All of it added up to a 3-1 loss to the Sharks. Mike Smith, who was starting the second half of a back-to-back, stopped 26 of 28 shots at SAP Center. Following Monday’s game, these teams will clash twice more before the end of the season, Feb. 7 in Calgary and March 31 at San Jose.
3. New year
Calgary has a 1-1-2 record in their last four games. But the way the Flames have been playing is cause for concern. They are flirting with a mid-season slump, which wouldn’t be great timing against a Pacific Division rival that is one point behind them.
4. Deep in the water
After Christmas, Sharks head coach Pete Deboer split up his two most effective lines and it’s paying off. After driving the Sharks’ production, Tomas Hertl, Logan Couture and Timo Meier are no longer together. Neither are Marcus Sorensen, Joe Thornton and Kevin Labanc. It’s now Thornton, Sorensen and Joe Pavelski, with Lukas Radil on a line next to Couture and Meier. Hertl is playing with Joonas Donskoi and Evander Kane. It’s allowed San Jose to spread out its depth and it showed as all four lines and 11 players hit the scoresheet.
5. This ’n’ that
Calgary dominated the Canucks in the faceoff circle on Saturday, going 64 per cent and, heading into Sunday’s NHL action, they were tied for the fifth-best faceoff record as a team in the league (52.1 per cent) … Flames are starting G David Rittich (12-4-3, 2.26 goalsagainst average and .924 save percentage) again on Monday … James Neal, Mikael Backlund and Travis Hamonic missed Sunday’s practice for maintenance.