Sharks feast on mistakes to earn win at the Dome
Late San Jose goal results from Gaudreau giveaway in ‘stinging’ loss for Calgary
SHARKS 3 , FLAMES 2
The Calgary Flames had been on their hottest streak of the 2017-18 season and, with three minutes left in Thursday’s clash against the San Jose Sharks, it appeared they were preparing to keep the good vibes going.
With goals from Johnny Gaudreau and Michael Frolik — and the confidence of their record in overtime and the shootout in their back pocket — a 2-2 score late looked promising to extend their points-pree to five games.
But one play — one bad decision — was the difference in a 3-2 loss at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Gaudreau was cruising on his usual left side in the Sharks zone when he decided to switch directions and turned up toward the blue line. That allowed Justin Braun to bump the 23-year-old speedster off the puck, feeding Joe Thornton for a rush up the middle of the ice.
“Turning up along the wall, I was trying to make a play,” Gaudreau said. “Stick kinda got caught between my hands there and the next thing you know, the puck is bouncing all over the place and I kind of lose my footing and they go down three-on-two.”
That led to Joonas Donskoi’s marker with 2:48 remaining.
Not the right play, a steamed Glen Gulutzan said.
“You can’t turn back with three minutes left,” the head coach said, fuming over his star player’s decision-making late in Thursday’s clash. “You’ve gotta play forward. We needed to get points. We needed to take that into overtime and get the points. We’re good at three-on-three. We just can’t turn back.”
The Flames, who returned home after a 2-1 shootout loss Tuesday in Minnesota, dropped to 16-13-3 with the loss. And against a division rival like the Sharks, 17-10-3, it hurts even more.
“You want points,” Gulutzan said. “For me, walking (into the media centre), it’s a lot like the Chicago game a year ago. It’s 2-2 and they take a shot late. It goes in and it’s 3-2 and you get nothing. Those things sting. They leave a mark. It feels a little bit the same way. We should have got points (Thursday).”
Trying to spark their top line, Gulutzan swapped Gaudreau and Sam Bennett in the second period and put his top left winger on the third line with Mark Jankowski and Garnet Hathaway. He placed his third-line winger on the top line with Sean Monahan and Micheal Ferland, combinations which lasted into the third period.
It worked out as Hathaway crashed his way to the front of the net (drawing at least three San Jose Sharks with him) and sent a pass over to Gaudreau early in the third period. Gaudreau connected, scoring his 13th of the season.
Gulutzan gave the team an optional skate Thursday as he tries to manage players’ energy levels during a hectic time of the season. But the Flames certainly won’t be sleeping in Friday after their latest showing at the Dome. They’re now 8-9-0 on home ice.
The Flames were gifted their first goal thanks to the generosity of Tim Heed, who coughed up the puck in the Sharks’ zone. The recipient, Frolik, didn’t hesitate and faked a slapshot before slipping it through the legs of Sharks goalie Aaron Dell.
Calgary rode the 1-0 lead until 3:53 left in the first period when a turnover at centre-ice by Ferland turned the tide.
Chris Tierney dangled the puck around Michael Stone, who dropped to his side to block a potential shot and Tierney snuck the puck over to Timo Meier on the opposite side to knot the score.
Flames netminder Mike Smith produced an excellent stretch in the second period when he gloved down a Brent Burns point blast and then a Tierney one-timer from one knee. But he was tagged for tripping on Thornton and it wound up costing them.
Despite Smith flashing the glove on Thornton on the penalty kill, Tierney was able to rap in a garbage goal on the next sequence as the Flames’ killers collapsed.
“It’s a grind. I’ve told these guys, the next 30 games are going to be exactly the same way — hard fought,” Gulutzan said. “(Thursday) I thought we made a couple mistakes. And so did they … but we’ve gotta stay with it. Things aren’t going to change in the next three games, they’re going to be tight.”
Smith faced 29 shots while Dell, a Calgary Canucks alum and native of Airdrie, made 32 saves for the visitors.
Calgary will host the Nashville Predators on Saturday (8 p.m., CBC, Sportsnet 960 The Fan), then beeline to Vancouver for Sunday’s clash with the Canucks (6 p.m. MT, Sportsnet, Sportsnet 960 The Fan).