Flames at Sharks preview
Marleau will play first home game since returning to San Jose; Talbot likely to debut for Calgary
by Ross McKeon / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
FLAMES (2-2-1) at SHARKS (1-4-0)
10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN360, SN1, NBCSCA, NHL.TV
The Game
Patrick Marleau will play his first home game since returning to the San Jose Sharks against the Calgary Flames at SAP Center on Sunday.
The 40-year-old forward scored two goals and led the Sharks with six shots on goal in a 5-4 win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. He played his first 19 NHL seasons in San Jose and the past two for the Toronto Maple Leafs before agreeing to a one-year contract Oct. 8.
Goalie Cam Talbot is expected to make his first start for the Flames, who play the second of a back to back after a 6-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
Players to watch
Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau has points in four of his first five games and leads Calgary with seven (three goals, four assists).
Sharks goalie Martin Jones is likely to start after backing up Aaron Dell on Thursday. He's 0-3-0 with a 4.55 goals-against average and .854 save percentage.
They said it
"Until we start to play hard, and play hard for 60 minutes, it's going to be up in the air all night long or you're going to get blown out. We've got to develop a little bit of a work ethic here." -- Flames coach Bill Peters
"It's great for the fans here, great story. Let's be honest, it's the way it should be. He belongs in this uniform and we're happy he's back." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer anticipating the ovation Patrick Marleau will receive
Flames projected lineup
Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Elias Lindholm
Matthew Tkachuk -- Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Andrew Mangiapane -- Derek Ryan - Tobias Rieder
Milan Lucic -- Austin Czarnik -- Sam Bennett
Mark Giordano -- Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington -- Michael Stone
Cam Talbot
David Rittich
Scratched: TJ Brodie, Mark Jankowski
Injured: Juuso Valimaki (knee)
Sharks projected lineup
Timo Meier -- Logan Couture -- Patrick Marleau
Evander Kane -- Tomas Hertl -- Kevin Labanc
Lukas Radil -- Joe Thornton -- Barclay Goodrow
Lean Bergmann -- Dylan Gambrell -- Melker Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon -- Erik Karlsson
Mario Ferraro -- Tim Heed
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Trevor Carrick, Danil Yurtaykin, Marcus Sorensen
Injured: Jacob Middleton (left shoulder), Dalton Prout (upper body), Radim Simek (knee)
Status report
Kylington and Czarnik will be in the lineup after not playing in Vegas, Peters said after a meeting at the Flames hotel. There was no word on who will come out. … Prout and Simek are skating, but not practicing. … Middleton is out 4-6 weeks.
Stat pack
Gaudreau will play his 400th NHL game. He and Monahan have combined to score 134 goals since the start of 2016-17. … The Sharks have been outscored 21-10 in their first five games.