Sharks vie to crawl out of basement in clash vs. Blackhawks

Both the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks already have been eliminated from advancing to the Stanley Cup playoffs. But there is something on the line when the clubs meet in Chicago on Sunday.

It could be called the battle at the basement. San Jose is last in the league standings, two points back of the Blackhawks but with one game in hand. With no opportunity to play for a championship title, a clash to avoid the bottom of the standings should provide some motivation for the struggling franchises in the throes of lengthy rebuilds.

Chicago, which won the first meeting with the Sharks this season —- a 2-1 shootout affair on Jan. 16 — is back in action after Friday's 5-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. The Blackhawks went into that encounter on a modest two-game winning streak in which they scored seven goals in consecutive games.

"We didn't probably have our best game, but they really played well," coach Luke Richardson said following the loss to the Kings. "And they're a big, heavy team. We had a hard time winning puck battles. I think that was a big difference."

The Blackhawks, who are finishing a four-game homestand, have been shut out an NHL-high 10 times this season.

"If we don't learn from it, then what was the point of losing 5-0?" forward Jason Dickinson said. "It's something that we can use as a lesson to say, ‘OK, this is what beat us.' If we do the same recipe, they're gonna beat us again. So, I think we have to look at the video and say, ‘OK, these are the openings. This is what works.'"

The Sharks will host the Blackhawks next week to end the season series between the teams. They arrive in the Windy City on the heels of a 4-2 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

San Jose, which is 1-10-2 in its past 13 games, has dropped the first three contests of its five-game road trip. The trek ends Tuesday with a visit to the Nashville Predators.

The manner in which his team lost to the Blue Jackets, who sit last in the Eastern Conference, did not sit well with Sharks coach David Quinn.

"Just really not engaged physically," Quinn told the San Jose Mercury News. "I thought we gave them way too much room, way too much respect. It was easy for them, too easy. But I thought as the game went on, we got more engaged, we were more physical when we needed to be."

Expect to see a more engaged Sharks team at the drop of the puck in Chicago, despite playing on consecutive nights with travel.

"We've got to get ready from the start. Our first period is not acceptable," winger Fabian Zetterlund said. "We know that and we've got to get better for (Sunday's) game."

The clash could mark the NHL debut for goaltender Devin Cooley, who was acquired by San Jose from the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline. With Mackenzie Blackwood on injured reserve, Magnus Chrona has played the past five games.

Cooley, 26, is from Los Gatos, just southwest of San Jose, and played in the San Jose Jr. Sharks association as a youth.

—Field Level Media