Big Game Fishin' 

SAN JOSE — It's become quite the trend.

A third-period comeback. Two gutsy points.

And the Flames did exactly that, scoring three times in the third period to knock off the Sharks 3-2 at SAP Center, to move back to within four points of the Wild in the Western Conference Wild Card race.

Matt Coronato's snipe with four-and-a-half minutes to play stood up as the game-winner, while Adam Klapka and Jonathan Huberdeau also found the back of the net.

Dustin Wolf, meanwhile, turned aside 29 shots against his hometown team - 17 in the first period alone - improving his record against California clubs to 12-1-0 in his young career.

The Sharks put 18 pucks on goal in period one, and Wolf was unbeatable until the final minute of play when a Will Smith one-timer found its way in with 24.2 seconds on the clock.

But for those other 17 shots, the Californian was brilliant. He was tested early on two quick redirects in front, but got pads to chances from Collin Graf and William Eklund before the game was 90 seconds old.

His best save came just past the nine-minute mark, when Smith won a race to the puck in the Calgary zone, then spun and fired a pass to a streaking Macklin Celebrini in the slot. Celebrini picked his spot, but Wolf read the play expertly, parrying away the Sharks rookie’s wrister with his blocker hand.

At the other end, Georgi Romanov stopped all eight shots he faced - the Flames’ best sustained pressure coming four minutes into the game thanks to a puck retrieval from Blake Coleman that led to a trio of chances, the best from Yegor Sharangovich, whose low slot shot was kicked aside by Romanov’s right pad.

The Flames put more pressure on Romanov in the middle stanza, but the 1-0 scoreline remained static through 40 minutes.

The trio of Morgan Frost, Yegor Sharangovich and Joel Farabee started the work in the offensive zone with an extended shift about four minutes in. Sharangovich had a glorious chance later in the period, set up in the slot with about a minute on the clock, but his wrist shot sailed over the crossbar.

Coleman had a chance on a short-handed partial break near the midpoint of the frame. He stole the puck away from Celebrini in the neutral zone then raced down the ice, but his manoeuvre from backhand to forehand at the crease caused the puck to roll off his stick.

Kevin Rooney nearly tied it up with about two minutes to play - sent in on goal after a delicious floating pass to the slot by Nazem Kadri - but his hard shot was swallowed up by the Sharks ‘keeper.

Wolf made eight saves in his own right in period two, his two best stoped coming with about five minutes to play after Celebrini found space in the slot. Wolf stopped his first shot, then fell to his left, onto his side, and somehow got a body part to Celebrini’s point-blank rebound from just outside the blue paint.

Finally, the Flames found their breakthrough.

And it was Klapka who provided it 8:12 into the third period.

He drove hard to the net on a 2-on-1 as Kadri carried the disc down the left wing. Kadri sent a shot goalward that squirted free to Klapka at the right post, and he banged it home to even the score at 1-1.

On his ensuing shift, Klapka drew San Jose’s first penalty of the night.

And his teammates cashed in on the powerplay.

The puck swung around to Frost on the left wing, just as Huberdeau was setting up shop net-front, in Romanov’s sightline. That allowed Frost to snap a picture-perfect pass that Huberdeau tipped home.

They didn't stop, either.

Backlund pressured a puck-carrier trying to escape the Sharks zone and - smelling blood - Coronato jumped on the loose puck, walked in, and sniped his 22nd goal of the season to extend the Flames lead to 3-1.

Smith cut the lead to 3-2 with his second goal of the night, capitalizing on a San Jose powerplay inside the final two minutes.

The Lineup:

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil

Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Matt Coronato

Yegor Sharangovich - Morgan Frost - Joel Farabee

Ryan Lomberg - Kevin Rooney - Adam Klapka

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 32, SJS 31

Powerplay: CGY 1-1, SJS 1-3

Faceoffs: CGY 49.2%, SJS 50.8%

Blocked Shots: CGY 12, SJS14

Hits: CGY 33, SJS 21

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 32, SJS 22

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 9, SJS 11

Up Next:

The Flames will head south for a Wednesday night matchup in Anaheim versus the Ducks. They return to the Scotiabank Saddledome to host Minnesota Friday at 8 p.m. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS