Time: 7 p.m., Saturday

Site: Honda Center

TV/radio: Prime Ticket; KLAA/830

How they match up

*San Jose statistics are through Thursday

Outlook

San Jose entered Friday having earned points in 12 of its past 13 games and suffered just one regulation loss over its previous 12 games (9-0-3) … The Sharks have four players with 20 or more points in C Joe Thornton, C Patrick Marleau, LW Dany Heatley and D Dan Boyle … RW Devin Setoguchi (lower body) and D Rob Blake (upper body) are out … San Jose entered Friday with the second-most goals (47) in the NHL in five-on-five play and had the league’s second-ranked penalty killing unit … The Sharks defeated the Ducks, 4-1, in the Ducks’ season opener at Honda Center on Oct.3.

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Mike Vallely, also known as “Mike V,” was arrested, cited for fighting in public and released for his involvement in the incident, according to Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim Police Department.

The incident occurred during the ‘three stars of the game’ presentation after the Ducks defeated Tampa Bay, 4-3, in overtime. Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer, the No.1 star of the game, skated out to the ice and went to hand his stick to a girl in the stands.

Martinez said those who were interviewed in and around the area said that another man attempted to grab the stick from the girl when Vallely, who Martinez said had indicated that the stick was intended for his daughter, intervened (Vallely has two daughters, according to several Web sites).

Niedermayer told reporters Friday that he intended to hand the stick to the girl.

“The glass is pretty high,” Niedermayer said. “I was trying to get it over. It’s not the easiest thing to do. I just wanted to give it to the little girl that was standing there.”

A struggle between the parties then broke out. The incident was posted on YouTube and quickly spread around the Web.

“It looked worse than it actually was,” Martinez said. “But nonetheless there was a brawl involving the hockey stick.”

None of the parties involved wished to press charges, Martinez said. The man who attempted to take the stick from Vallely and the girl has not been identified. He was not cited but could still face consequences, Martinez said.

Vallely, 39, of Long Beach, had made appearances for the organization. His Web site identifies him as a professional skateboarder and musician from Edison, N.J.

A  link to Vallely’s blog had been on the Ducks’ official Web site. The link was taken down by Friday afternoon.

A Ducks spokesman said that Vallely was not an official employee of the organization, but that the Ducks have terminated their relationship with him.

In the wake of the incident, the Ducks are evaluating the practice of players handing their sticks to fans in the stands. The tradition began this season.

“The Ducks cannot comment on any further action that may be taken at this time,” the club said in a release. “As an organization, we do not condone or tolerate this type of behavior, and will treat this case accordingly.”

Niedermayer, who used to play in New Jersey, said he has seen similar incidents but maybe not quite like this.

“It’s not something you see all the time,” Niedermayer said. “These things do happen. Maybe (not) over a stick. But there’s disagreements in the stands. This isn’t the first one. Maybe the first one that’s been on video. Playing out east, some of those games, there’s disagreements in the stands.

When you’re in Jersey or you do down to Philly, there’s a few mix-ups in the stands, not even over a stick. Over nothing. It happens. It’s unfortunate.”

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Defenseman James Wisniewski (bruised foot) and Steve Eminger (back spasms) did not practice as the Ducks only skated five defensemen.

Wisniewski said his foot swelled up and “turned into like a hematoma” after he was struck in Thursday’s game but said it is much better today and he will test it out Saturday morning to see if he can play against San Jose.

“Hopefully with some more treatment, just ice it all day and I’ll definitely try to play tomorrow,” he said.

Eminger will also take a day and see how he feels tomorrow. Coach Randy Carlyle said he will wait to see if the club needs to recall a defenseman if necessary.

On the offensive side, Joffrey Lupul sat out practice with “tightness in his lower body,” Carlyle said. Carlyle confirmed it was an aggravation of the back spasms Lupul suffered earlier in the season.

Lupul said he will evaluate himself at tomorrow’s morning skate …

Saku Koivu (groin-muscle) went through his most active practice since his injury but said he will also see how he feels in the morning.

Asked if Saturday is a possibility, Koivu said, “It’s possible. I don’t want to say yes or no. With these things, you kind of take it more and more and see how it reacts and if everything goes well then it’s possible I’ll play tomorrow.”

Ryan Carter (bruised foot) remains out …

Whew… OK, that’s it for injuries …

A big topic was the fracas that broke out in the stands Thursday night when Scott Niedermayer went to give his stick to a young girl during the three stars of the game presentation.

Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim Police Department said that a man in his 30s was arrested and cited for fighting in public and released.

The man was not brought into the police station and formally booked, Martinez said, and no other information is available at this time.

Niedermayer had some very-captain like comments about the incident, which we will detail later …

The line rushes were…

Bobby Ryan-Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry

Evgeny Artyukhin-Saku Koivu-Teemu  Selanne

Petteri Nokelainen-Todd Marchant-Kyle Calder

Mike Brown-MacGregor Sharp-George Parros

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A man in his 30s was arrested and cited for fighting in public and then released, according to the Anaheim Police Department.

Update: The man has been identifed as Mike Vallely, also known as ‘Mike V,” a professional skateboarder who the Ducks have severed ties with following the incident.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Oates was a member of the 2002-03 Ducks team that advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals and took New Jersey to Game 7.

It was a magical run that served as a sort-of precursor to the club’s 2007 Stanley Cup championship.

Oates (shown here in a 2003 game) returned to Anaheim on Thursday night as an assistant coach under Rick Tocchet in Tampa Bay, and he noticed a few changes.

“I look down their bench and only Jiggy’s left on their team,” Oates said in reference to former teammate  Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

“But it’s still a good memory to come to the building and a lot of fun now.”

Oates is understandably fond of the 2003 season largely because it was just the second time in his 19-year career that he made it to the Finals. He played 60 games with Edmonton the following season before he retired.

“I played a long time,” said Oates, who finished his career sixth on the all-time assists list (1,079) and ranks 16th on the all-time points list (1,420).

“I only got the Finals twice. To lose in Game 7 is as close you can get. To get that far was a great experience.”

One of the best pure passers of his generation despite not being blessed with great skating ability, Oates’s leadership went a long way in the locker room as a player and now as a coach.

Oates, 47, who lives in Palm Desert, was officially hired just before this season. Oates said his role with the Lightning is mostly to assist Tocchet but he added that, “obviously, being the type of player I was, I think I feel like I can talk to the players.”

Oates said he followed that 2007 team. What does he think of the latest edition?

“I think they’re a very good hockey team,” he said. “Obviously up front they’ve got some great players. They’re very young up front, which is great. Obviously (Scott) Niedermayer looks like he’s 20 again.”

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Stamkos delivered a highlight goal when he tapped in his own rebound out of mid air as he was falling down in the second period.

“A lot more luck than anything,” Stamkos said.

Stamkos hasn’t need much luck this season.

The 19-year-old former No.1 draft pick has 14 goals and 22 points in 19 games this season, which has spurred talk of his candidacy for the Canadian Olympic team.

Stamkos has come full circle since his last appearance at Honda Center, or non-appearance. He  was a healthy scratch for the first time in his young career in the Jan.9 meeting in Anaheim, which was the nadir of his struggles as the 2008 top draft pick.

But Stamkos rebounded late last season and it has carried over.  He says he’s more comfortable and confident after he spent the offseason training with Gary Roberts, the former player who was known for his aggressive conditioning regimen.

“My confidence coming in (to this season) was obviously pretty sky high,” Stamkos said.

Stamkos admitted he’s aware of the Olympics. The roster for Team Canada will be announced at the end of the year.  

“Obviously it’s in the back of my mind,” he said. “Especially the way things have gone for me since the start of the year. I definitely want to impress them as much as I can. Obviously that team is going to be very talented. It’s going to be tough. I just want to play as well as I can.”

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The power play delivered three goals in seven chances, including Scott Niedermayer’s overtime winner in the 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay that ended a four-game losing streak. Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan also scored with the man advantage while Teemu Selanne got a goal just three seconds after another power play ended.

“We moved the puck effectively,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. ”We found the open man. We didn’t panic with it in the zone. We seemed to be under a lot of control with it. the puck was on the stick tape to tape and bang it was in the net.

“And then the last one was a big-time shot by a big-time player. The guy that made the play was Corey Perry in front of the net with the screen.”

The power play wasn’t the only thing clicking. Despite allowing a game-tying goal by Martin St. Louis to start the third period, the Ducks erased tripping penalties taken by Evgeny Artyukhin and Perry with the game in the balance.

“Those are big,” Carlyle said. ”But we can’t take penalties like that. Corey Perry’s penalty behind the net. We cannot take that tripping penalty. Artyukhin’s penalty in the neutral ice. The stick was between the legs. Can’t do that. And those are the things that until we cure them, we’re going to be in tight, tight istuaitons and those situations can go against you.

“Tonight they didn’t and we take the win and move on.”

The Ducks realize that these seven games at Honda Center could propel them back into the mix in the Western Conference or seriously damage their playoff chances before Christmas.

“It was huge,” Ryan said. ”‘We come off a road trip that was abysmal. We had meetings and we talked about things. Guys needed to raise the level of the play. The power play needed to step up, the penalty kill. We took huge steps in all those areas tonight.”

The fact that the Ducks lost a 3-0 lead showed that they still have a long way to go.

“It wasn’t always pretty but that’s what we need right now,” said goalie Jonas Hiller, who won for the first time in nearly two weeks. ”Just win somehow. Nobody’s asking how we won tomorrow. You take those two points and just keeping building our confidence.”

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13: Number of overtime goals by Scott Niedermayer, the most by a defenseman in NHL history.

3, 2, 2: Shots on goal, hits and takeaways for Bobby Ryan, who also scored a goal to extend his home points streak to six games.

6-0-1: Ducks’ record when leading after two periods.

3-0, 0.50: Career record and goals-against average of Tampa Bay goaltender Mike Smith against the Ducks entering Thursday.

14: Number of games, out of the past 15, in which Tampa Bay has been outshot. The Lightning, who were outshot, 27-24,  have been cumulatively outshot in every period this season.

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And, as you might expect, neither Burke nor coach Ron Wilson sugar-coated the situation.

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Niedermayer’s goal came on a four-on-three power play after Tampa Bay’s Ryan Malone took a cross checking penalty just 11 seconds into overtime.

Tampa Bay erased a 3-0 deficit to force overtime when Martin St. Louis scored on a slap shot from the point at 1:58 of the third period while Todd Marchant was serving a tripping penalty.

Tampa Bay scored twice in an 18-second span in the second period to pull to 3-2. Jeff Halpern scored from in front off a pass from Steve Downie at 7:23, and Steve Stamkos tapped in his own rebound out of the air while he was falling in front of the net at 7:41.

Bobby Ryan put the Ducks, ahead, 3-0, on a power play goal early in the second on wrist shot after Joffrey Lupul fed him the puck on a nifty backhand pass.

Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne scored on identical plays in the first period. Selanne put the puck into an open right side of  the net off a pass from Getzlaf, while Getzlaf did the same off a pass from Selanne as a Tampa Bay penalty had just expired.

Corey Perry had two assists to extend his points streak to an NHL-best 13 games.

Defenseman James Wisniewski left the game in the first period with a bruised right foot after he was struck by Tampa Bay’s Paul Szczechura. X-rays were negative, according to the Ducks.

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