(My Sportsbook) - The second-seeded San Jose Sharks will try to continue their strong finish in the regular season tonight, when they welcome the Calgary Flames to HP Pavilion for Game 1 of this best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series.

The seventh-seeded Flames won the season series against the Sharks this year, going 3-1-0 against them. Calgary and San Jose have also split a pair of playoff series in their histories. The Sharks beat Calgary in seven games during the 1995 conference quarters, and the Flames posted a 4-2 series victory in the 2004 West finals.

Though they fell short in their quest for the top seed in the West, no team enters the postseason with more momentum than the Sharks.

Following a loss to New Jersey on February 20, the Sharks set a new club record by posting at least a point in 20 straight games (18-0-2), a run that included a franchise-record 11-game winning streak that directly followed the loss to New Jersey. The string ended with back-to-back regulation losses in San Jose's final two games of the season.

The 2007-08 Sharks set a franchise-record with 108 points and notched its first division title since 2003-04.

San Jose's offense continues to run through Joe Thornton. The playmaking center led the Sharks with 96 points, 41 more than second-leading scorer Milan Michalek and his 55 points. Thornton finished first in the NHL with 67 assists, and added 29 goals and 37 power-play points.

Thornton's ability to set up his teammates doesn't cease in the playoffs, as he notched 10 assists in 11 postseason games last year, and the 28-year-old has 29 assists in 57 career playoff tests.

In net for the Sharks will be Evgeni Nabokov, who is coming off his finest season in the NHL. After leading the league with 46 wins this year, Nabokov will try to carry that success over to the postseason. The Kazakhstan-born netminder posted a 2.14 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in 77 starts,.

Nabokov had a solid 2.23 GAA in last year's postseason, though he went just 6-5.

Another player to keep an eye on is center Jeremy Roenick. The 38-year-old center just completed his 19th regular season and has never won a Stanley Cup title.

Just three seasons removed from an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, Calgary hasn't made it out of the quarterfinals since losing to Tampa Bay in the championship round in 2004. The Flames were bested by the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings, respectively, in each of the last two years, and don't have too much momentum on their side heading into the 2008 postseason.

That's because the club missed out on a chance to win a tight Northwest Division by losing seven of its final 13 games. On top of that, the Flames lost all seven of those tests in regulation, and fell four points shy of first-place Minnesota.

No one will point the finger at captain Jarome Iginla, though. The Flames superstar right winger scored in his club's final game of the season to post his 50th goal of the season, the second time in his career he has reached that mark. Add in his team-high 48 assists and you get a career-high 98-point season out of Iginla.

The forward has also dominated the postseason in the past. He totaled 13 goals in 26 games in the Flames' 2003-04 run to the Stanley Cup Finals, and has 21 goals and 15 assists in 41 career playoff tests.

Iginla, who became the franchise's all-time leading goal scorer this season, is going to need help this year, and Kristian Huselius and Daymond Langkow appear the most likely to give it. Langkow was second in the club with 30 goals this year, while Huselius added 25 markers and finished second on the club with 66 points.

Goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff will try to rebound from a subpar season, at least by his standards. Kiprusoff went 39-26-10 with a 2.69 goals-against average in 76 starts, but his win and shutout total dipped for a third straight year, while his GAA also rose for a third consecutive campaign.

The Finish netminder also struggled in last year's postseason, going 2-4 with a 2.81 GAA. However, he does have a lifetime 2.06 GAA in 43 all-time postseason starts.

San Jose was 22-13-6 as the hosts this season, while the Flames went 21-19-1 as the visitors.