Sharks at Flames preview

SHARKS (16-10-3) at FLAMES (16-12-3)
9 p.m. ET; SNF, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

Dell, who was born in Airdrie, Alberta, a suburb of Calgary, has allowed two goals in his past three starts and is 5-3-1 with a 1.72 goals-against-average and .939 save percentage in 11 games this season.
This will be Dell's first start since he made 25 saves in a 5-0 win against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 9.
The Sharks are 5-2-1 in their past eight games; the Flames have points in four straight (2-0-2).
San Jose and Calgary are tied for third place in the Pacific Division with 35 points; however, the Sharks have played two fewer games.

Players to watch

Sharks center Joe Thornton has five points (one goal, four assists) in a three-game point streak. He needs two points to tie Doug Gilmour (1,414) for 18th place on the NHL all-time list.
Flames forward Sam Bennett has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past eight games after having three points (one goal, two assists) in his first 23 games this season.

They said it

"Division games are important but if you don't take care of the other ones, the division ones, they don't really matter anyways. You've just got to win, get points and put them in the bank." -- Sharks defenseman Brent Burns
"We know the system we play, and we know we have to play it every night to be successful." -- Flames forward Garnet Hathaway

Sharks projected lineup

Melker Karlsson -- Joe Thornton -- Joe Pavelski
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Kevin Labanc
Timo Meier -- Chris Tierney -- Joel Ward
Joonas Donskoi -- Marcus Sorensen -- Jannik Hansen
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns
Joakim Ryan -- Tim Heed
Aaron Dell
Martin Jones
Scratched: Daniel O'Regan
Injured: Mikkel Boedker (lower body), Barclay Goodrow (lower body), Dylan DeMelo (head)

Flames projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Micheal Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk -- Mikael Backlund -- Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett -- Mark Jankowski -- Garnet Hathaway
Troy Brouwer -- Matt Stajan -- Curtis Lazar
Mark Giordano -- Dougie Hamilton
TJ Brodie -- Travis Hamonic
Brett Kulak -- Michael Stone
Mike Smith
David Rittich
Scratched:Freddie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski
Injured: Kris Versteeg (hip), Jaromir Jagr (lower body)

Status report

The Flames held an optional skate. … Donskoi is probable to return after missing six games with a lower-body injury, but Sharks coach Peter DeBoer didn't specify who could come out. …Jagr will miss his fifth straight game.

Stat pack

Burns has six points (three goals, three assists) in a three-game multi-point streak after having five points (one goal, four assists) in his previous 15 games. Pavelski has four points (one goal, three assists) in a three-game point streak. … Gaudreau has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past nine games after having 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in his previous 12.