Sharky Takes Bite Out Of Sharks

The drive to the playoffs remains alive.

The Flames broke a 2-2 deadlock after 40 minutes with three in the third period to down the visiting Sharks 5-2 at the Scotiabank Saddledome Sunday night and get two critical points as they continue to chase down a wild card slot.

Yegor Sharangovich – who came into the game with a goal in each of his last two outings – scored the game-winner and added an empty-netter, the first his 100^th career goal.

MacKenzie Weegar, Adam Klapka and Matt Coronato also scored, while Jonathan Huberdeau had a pair of helpers.

Dustin Wolf made 28 saves, including a simply stunning stop on former Flame Tyler Toffoli in the third with Calgary up 3-2 at that point.

It wasn’t an ideal start for the Flames, the Sharks jumping out to a 9-0 edge in shots and a 15-6 lead in that category after 20 minutes.

But the Flames made their opportunities count, scoring a pair in the first to lead 2-1 at the break.

Toffoli notched his 30^th of the season on a rebound that Wolf couldn’t smoother, roofing it over the diving Flames goaltender at 3:09.

Then Joel Hanley made a nice play to keep the puck in the zone on a long Calgary possession and Klapka would feed to Weegar, he stepped into a howitzer that beat Georgi Romanov shortside at 9:24.

The Flames added their second off a slick play by Kadri, who poked the puck around Sharks blueliner Henry Thrun as he gained the zone, then jumped around him, grabbed the puck and put it across to Klapka for an easy backdoor redirect near the 15-minute mark of the frame.

The script flipped in the second, Calgary skating to a 16-5 edge in shots, Blake Coleman getting a couple different chances on the doorstep off Mikael Backlund feeds, both of which were among the locals' best looks.

But San Jose would get the lone goal of the middle stanza, Coleman’s stick breaking up near the blueline as he attempted to poke the puck for a breakaway attempt, the Sharks keeping it in the zone and Jan Rutta then putting a backhand past Wolf at 4:20.

Sharangovich struck 1:30 into the third on a lovely play. Brayden Pachal flipped the puck into the Sharks zone and Morgan Frost one-touched a bouncing puck to Sharangovich who settled the biscuit and snapped home his 16th of the season.

Then came Wolf's biggest save of the game on a San Jose powerplay, the puck taking a weird bounce off the end glass and coming right to the stick of Toffoli who was looking at a yawning cage, but Wolf lunged back across to make a chest save.

Backlund made a pass from behind the net to Coronato, who kicked it from his skate to stick and put it home from one knee in the low slot at 10:55 to pad the lead, with Sharangovich putting the empty-netter home at 17:16.

The Lineup:

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau - Nazem Kadri - Adam Klapka

Yegor Sharangovich - Morgan Frost - Martin Pospisil

Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Matt Coronato

Ryan Lomberg - Kevin Rooney - Joel Farabee

Defence

Joel Hanley - MacKenzie Weegar

Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson

Jake Bean - Brayden Pachal

Goaltender

Dustin Wolf - starter

Dan Vladar

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 30, SJS 30

Powerplay: CGY 0-2, SJS 0-2

Faceoffs: CGY 46.9%, SJS 53.1%

Blocked Shots: CGY 12, SJS 18

Hits: CGY 34, SJS 21

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 28, SJS 17

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 10, SJS 8

Up Next:

The Flames host the Vegas Golden Knights Tuesday night at 7 p.m. (CLICK FOR TICKETS), before finishing the season against the Kings in L.A. on Thursday.