Wolf, who hails from nearby Gilroy, Calif. (about a 35-minute drive from SAP Center) had his grandma, aunt and uncle all in attendance to share in what was certainly a special night for the young lad.
Ironically, Wolf has played in this barn numerous times before back when the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, played in the downtown rink. However, this was the netminder’s first taste of NHL action here in his backyard.
"They’ve just been by my side from the very start," Wolf said of the support from his family. "From my aunt and uncle my grandma, my parents who couldn’t be here tonight. Coming from a small town, playing against your hometown team, it’s something you obviously dream of, pretty cool it came true.
"This is the first time (my grandma) has gotten to see me play live in the NHL. I think she was pretty excited for this to happen. My grandfather is looking down on us today, I’m sure he’s cheering me on."
Andrew Mangiapane made his return to the lineup after missing five games with an undisclosed injury, logging 15:26 on a line with Connor Zary in the middle and Jonathan Huberdeau on left wing.
Additionally, Ilya Solovyov played his first game since Dec. 11 after being recalled from the Calgary Wranglers on Monday. Solovyov, who Head Coach Ryan Huska reported was the AHL club's "best guy" lately, played north of 18 minutes and looked good in all facets. But the highlight of his evening was a bone-crushing hit on newcomer Collin Graf, who Solovyov baited to the outside before sticking out the arm and sending the rookie crashing to the ice in the third period.
The homeside drew first blood at 7:22 of the first, after the Flames got caught flat-footed in the neutral zone and allowed the Sharks to attack with numbers. Mikael Granlund took advantage and fired a pass to Fabian Zetterlund, who took it with speed down the right side before centring the puck to William Eklund for a beautiful backhand strike.
The Sharks had a chance to extend late in the period when Martin Pospisil was tagged for boarding Calen Addison, but the Flames’ penalty kill – which has been a real bright spot all season – didn’t allow a single shot.
San Jose carried a 9-8 edge in that department after 20 minutes of play.
The Flames came oh-so close to knotting things up within the first minute of the second when some nifty handles from Andrei Kuzmenko created a 2-on-0 with Kadri, but Mackenzie Blackwood stuck out the right pad and made a stunning save off No. 91.
The miss proved costly as the Sharks doubled their lead less than a half-minute later.
Mike Hoffman picked the pocket of Yegor Sharangovich near the blueline on a Flames breakout, and after feathering a quick pass down the hashmarks, Jacob MacDonald heaved a backhand over Wolf’s left shoulder to make it 2-0 at 2:22.
The Flames nearly got one back a few shifts later when Huberdeau and Mangiapane took off a 2-on-1, but Huberdeau’s hard shot from the circle rang off the iron.
No matter.
The visitors broke the goose-eggs only moments later off some dazzling work from Matt Coronato, who made a couple of moves up top, before throwing the puck down to a pinching Andersson, who then swung into the low slot and ripped a shot five-hole for his ninth of the season.
Former Shark Nikita Okhotiuk picked up the other helper to record his first point as a Flame.
