No winner emerged after a 60-minute battle against the Flames in San Jose. After scoring a combined 10-goals in regulation, the Sharks couldn’t extinguish the Flames in a shootout.
The San Jose Sharks were giving out goals early on against the visiting Flames. With Alex Stalock in net and d-man Brendan Dillon out of the line-up, the Sharks did not look like themselves at the start of the game.
The Sharks made up for their poor start with pair of goals in the second and another two in the third two in the third, but couldn’t hang on to a 5-4 lead. A late goal by the Flames sent the game to overtime, then to the shootout, where the Calgary prevailed, beating the Sharks 6-5.
The Flames brought the heat in the 1st period. Aside from the one goal by the Sharks, it was all Calgary in the first.
The Calgary Flames wasted no time against the Sharks. Taking advantage of a neutral zone turnover, the Flames struck first with Sam Bennett scoring an unassisted goal against Alex Stalock. 30 seconds later, a skate malfunction gave the Flames their first power play of the game and just like that it was 2-0 Calgary.
Mark Giordano scored his 13th of the season as Alex Stalock struggled to find a rhythm early in the game, giving up two goals on five shots 1:06 apart, just over five minutes into the Sharks return to SAP.
Cut to Martin Jones looking antsy on the sidelines. But at this point, there’s still plenty of time to even the score.
San Jose answered back with a goal of their own at 8:45 in the first. Tommy Wingels, who scored his sixth of the season for his newborn baby daughter, cut the Sharks’ deficit in half.
A look at papa Wingels’ goal:
Later in the period, San Jose gave up another goal to Sean Monahan and the Flames to make it 3-1. 40 seconds later, Mikael Backlund flew through the Sharks unprotected neutral zone to put Calgary up by three goals, a score of 4-1.
Cut back to Martin Jones looking really antsy on the bench (“Put me in coach,” said Martin Jones, probably.) Luckily for the Sharks, the Flames didn’t score again in the period. Woohoo.
The Flames did not score during intermission.
The San Jose Sharks put a stop to the Flames advance in the 2nd period. The Sharks started the second on a power play. Logan Couture scored 48 seconds into the period, making the score 4-2 Calgary.
A look at Couture’s fifth goal of the season assisted by Brent Burns and and Patrick Marleau:
Calgary went to the penalty box again halfway through the period. The Sharks power play unit, ranked fourth in the league, kept the ball rolling and scored on a 5-on-3 power play. Patrick Marleau brought the Sharks within one of Calgary at 11:17 in the second.
Here’s Marleau’s PP goal, and his 17th goal of the season:
At the second buzzer, the Sharks were trailing by one goal.
Whatever had plagued the Sharks in the 1st period had been thoroughly vanquished by the third. At 2:46, Donskoi, assisted by Couture and Burns put the equalizer past Flames goaltender Karri Ramo. It was Donskoi’s ninth of goal of the season as he continues to be a pleasant surprise and key player for the Sharks.
Donskoi’s game tying goal (Score: 4-4):
The Flames went to the box again shortly after Donskoi’s goal, and were once again, burned by the Sharks dominant power play. Dylan DeMelo blasted one beyond the reach of Ramo with just under 14 minutes left to play in the final period.
DeMelo’s go-ahead goal:
The 5-5 tie did not last long. After allowing four unanswered goals by the Sharks, Calgary’s Kris Russell got the better of Stalock and once again, the game was all tied up. Coach Peter DeBoer challenged the ruling on the ice, but the call stood, and the game remained deadlocked at 5-5.
With less than three minutes remaining to play, Karri Ramo left the game after a collision. Joonas Hiller came in to replace Ramo, who was helped off the ice and into the locker room. Hiller, who barely had time to warm up, prevailed against the Sharks PP and a brief two-man advantage.
Hiller remained in goal as the Sharks and Flames went to overtime.
Sharks had some quality chances in overtime, but Joonas Hiller was brilliant in goal for the Flames. Hiller denied a beautiful pair of shots by Logan Couture, who was determinedly seeking the game winner.
In the shootout, Logan Couture scored for the San Jose, but no other Sharks found the back of the net. Joe Colborne and Juri Hudler scored for the Flames, with Hudler getting the game-winner. The final score ended up 6-5, with the Sharks getting one point.
Sharks Goal (Assists): Tommy Wingels (Joonas Donskoi, Logan Couture), Logan Couture (Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau), Patrick Marleau (Joe Thornton, Logan Couture), Joonas Donskoi (Logan Couture, Brent Burns), Dylan DeMelo (Joel Ward, Marc-Edouard Vlasic),
Sharks Saves: Alex Stalock – 17 Saves
[Fancy Stats] – [Flames Reaction] – [Event Summary] – [PBP Log] – [TOI Log] – [Faceoff Report]
Fear the Fin Three Stars:
1. Logan Couture
2. Sam Bennett
3. Joonas Donskoi
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