The long-term goal for the San Jose Sharks will be to snap a six-year playoff drought.

The short-term quest when the Sharks host the Calgary Flames on Thursday is to snap a four-game losing skid.

As both teams return to action from the Olympic break, the Sharks are a handful of points out of a playoff position, but still close enough to make a strike, a big shift from finishing near the bottom of the league the past couple of campaigns.

“Excited to start playing again. It’s gonna be great,” said rising star forward Macklin Celebrini, who returned from winning silver with Canada at the Olympics. “It was a long break and I know the guys are excited to get started playing again, especially with our goal in mind.”

The Sharks have been in the playoff mix much of the season, but are well aware of the need to snap their skid, which included a loss to the Flames. San Jose went into the break after suffering a 4-2 road loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 4.

Celebrini, who had a huge hand in Canada’s success despite being a few months shy of his 20th birthday, returns to the club believing he learned plenty while being around the likes of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid for a couple of weeks.

Celebrini said he noticed how the top players have a winning mentality he wants to replicate.

“A lot of those guys have won the Stanley Cup and won so many other things,” he said. “Being around them and knowing what you have to do to get to that goal, you see the habits and preparation they have.”

The Flames are a half-dozen points back of the Sharks, and are not only a longer shot to reach the Stanley Cup tournament but also coping with a whirlwind of trade rumors.

The likes of veterans Blake Coleman, Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar are all potential trade targets for other clubs heading into the March 6 trade deadline.

“For me, it’s always a focus on where I am,” Kadri said. “I’m not a one-foot-out-the-door kind of guy, wherever I am. I exert my full energy and give it 110%, so I try not to let it affect me too much. We’re all human in that sense, but you know, I’m a Calgary Flame, and my dedication is to here, for now.”

The Flames went into the break on a high after beating the Edmonton Oilers by a 4-3 score on Feb. 4. However, Calgary has only two victories in its last eight games (2-4-2).

On the positive, the Flames will receive a boost to the lineup with Coleman back in action after missing 11 games due to injury. Calgary also expects to have depth with forward John Beecher suiting up after missing 14 games due to injury and energy forward Martin Pospisil ready to play after skating for Slovakia during the Olympics.

“This gives us a group of forwards that have good speed to their game, and can a physical gritty game,” coach Ryan Huska said. “It gives us nice options going forward.”

Pospisil, who missed the first half of the season due a concussion, is eager to build on a solid performance at the Olympics, and see if the team can make a playoff push.

“Start winning right away, and just keep rolling,” he said. “I know there’s gonna be lots of games.”

–Field Level Media

A change in venue isn’t the only difference on deck for NASCAR’s All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway this season, the league announced on Wednesday.

The 350-lap marathon is set to take place at the “Monster Mile” in Delaware on May 17, with a $1 million purse at stake, a move from North Wilkesboro, N.C., where the event took place the past two seasons.

North Wilkesboro instead will host a race on July 19.

The race at Dover will be broken into three segments, consisting of two sections of 75 laps apiece and a 200-lap final leg.

The top 26 finishers of the first leg invert position for the next segment. The results from each of the first two segments will be averaged together to help determine the field for the 200-lap finish, which also will feature Cup Series winners from the past two years, ex-Cup Series winners still with a full-time ride plus a fan vote winner.

Seventeen drivers are already locked into All-Star Race berths: Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Shane van Gisbergen and Bubba Wallace.

Bell took the checkered flag at the 2025 All-Star Race.

–Field Level Media

No. 25 Vanderbilt never trailed, but had to survive Georgia’s second-half rally to earn an 88-80 win over the Bulldogs on Wednesday evening in Nashville, Tenn.

The Commodores (22-6, 9-6 Southeastern Conference) got double-figure scoring from Devin McGlockton and Tyler Tanner (17 points apiece), Duke Miles (15), AK Okereke (13), Tyler Nickel and Jalen Washington (10 apiece).

McGlockton had a game-high 10 rebounds, including several big ones late, while Okereke had a game-high six assists.

Georgia (19-9, 7-8) got 28 points (18 in the second half) from Jeremiah Wilkinson, who was 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Kanon Catchings scored 15 and Blue Cain had 10.

Georgia shot 56.0% in the second half and gained momentum when Miles, Vandy’s second-leading scorer, went to the bench with his fourth foul with 13:20 left. Cain hit a step-back 3 with 9:28 left to tie the game for the first time since the opening tip, capping a 10-0 Georgia run.

The Bulldogs tied it twice more, but McGlockton had two big offensive rebounds on a possession which ended with two free throws to extend the lead to 79-75 with 3:35 left.

McGlockton grabbed a board off a Wilkinson miss and Okereke, with the shot clock running down, hit a jumper in the lane, got fouled and hit the free throw with 2:48 left.

Georgia never got closer than five from there.

Vanderbilt led 42-35 at half, but threatened to run away with it early. It led 35-15 with 6:37 left in the first half on McGlockton’s put-back, but Georgia picked up the defensive intensity and went on a 9-0 run to cut into the lead.

The Commodores hit just 1 of their last 8 from the floor in the half’s final 6:36, while the Bulldogs hit 13 of 15 first-half foul shots to help close the deficit.

–Field Level Media