The Sharks rallied from a 3-1 deficit with three unanswered goals in the second period, and rode that to a 5-3 win on Tuesday at SAP Center.
Dillon Dube, Johnny Gaudreau and Adam Ruzicka - with his first-career goal - supplied the offence for the Flames, who fired 43 shots on goal. Dan Vladar made 22 saves, but was tagged with his first regulation loss of the season.
The aforementioned quick start came courtesy of Dube, who drove hard to the net and finished off a great feed from Milan Lucic. No. 29 fended off a check from Mario Ferraro and put a shot off the D man's right foot, beating Adin Hill for his third of the year.
The Sharks evened things with a powerplay goal at 8:58. With Erik Gudbranson serving a cross-checking penalty, Tomas Hertl got a cross-ice feed from Alexander Barabonov and rifled a shot upstairs from the top of the right circle.
Head Coach Darryl Sutter considered challenging the play, as there was contact between Vladar and a Shark on the fly-by, but in the end, he pressed on.
The Flames, though, got right back on the horse and scored the go-ahead goal less than three minutes later. Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk teamed up to win a puck battle below the goal line, before the latter made a beautiful no-look, between-the-legs pass to Gaudreau on the doorstep.
Johnny Hockey pulled off a nasty move in tight, quickly tucking a backhand under the bar to put the visitors on top, 2-1.
Shots on goal favoured the Flames 11-8 after one.
It was the 16th time in 26 games the Flames have taken a lead into the first intermission. They're now 12-3-1 when they do.
The Flames opened up a two-goal lead at 4:31 of the second when Ruzicka crashed the blue paint and popped home his first-career goal. Chris Tanev made a great play to the goalmouth, and the youngster got a couple of cracks at it in tight - the second, beating a sprawling Hill before Ruzicka was mobbed by his teammates.
"He's familiar with this area, being in Stockton the last couple of years," Milan Lucic said at the morning skate. "I know he's excited to play again, and he's played in this building against the Barracuda, so I think he knows a little more. He's got a little more familiarity with this rink and hopefully he takes another step tonight."
Did he ever!
At the other end, Vladar wasn't overly busy, but he was good when he had to be in the stanza.
The Sharks had a great chance to make it a one-goal game when Noah Gregor sped off a 2-on-1 with Hertl. Nikita Zadorov did well to take away the passing lane, but the feed got through and Hertl got a shot off, but Vladar stuck out the right pad to deny the former 35-goal scorer.
The Flames earned a powerplay shortly thereafter and had a great opportunity to swing the momentum back in their favour, but the advantage came up empty.
And then, the Sharks rally began.
Erik Karlsson found a lane through the middle and took off on a breakaway, beating Vladar five-hole to make it 3-2 at 10:08.
A powerplay goal by Logan Couture tied things up with 5:33 to play. The Sharks won the offensive-zone draw and Couture went to the net, tipping a shot from Karlsson past Vladar.
Hertl scored his second of the night at 18:10, depositing a rebound at the side of the net, after Vladar kicked away the initial blast from Barabonov.
The three goals came 8:02 apart.
The Flames had an unbelievable chance to tie the game midway through the third when Hill coughed up the puck and gave both Dube and Lucic a clean look at the yawning cage, but the Sharks raced back and blocked the Big Man's bid for the equalizer.
The Flames kept pressing, but with 41.2 seconds to play, Hertl buried his hat-trick goal on an empty-net to seal a 5-3 Sharks victory.
