Calgary closes in on San Jose with win

CALGARY, Alberta — Brian Elliott had another stellar game to help the Calgary Flames secure their second trip to the playoffs in eight seasons.

Elliott stopped 36 shots to improve to 14-2 in his past 16 starts, Matt Stajan got his first goal in 24 games during Calgary’s three-goal second period, and the Flames beat the Sharks 5-2 Friday night.

“He was fantastic. He was the reason we got these two points tonight,” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said of Elliott.

Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Alex Chiasson and Sam Bennett also scored for Calgary, which has won three out of the four meetings this season against San Jose.

The Flames pulled one point behind the third-place Sharks in the Pacific Division with four games remaining for each team, including a matchup in the season finale at San Jose.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Melker Karlsson scored for the Sharks, who have lost eight of their past nine. Martin Jones gave up four goals on 22 shots before he was replaced by Aaron Dell to start the third period. Dell stopped all 12 shots he faced before the Flames added an empty-net goal.

“Right now, we’re not scoring, which compounds it and we’re not getting the right saves either at the right times,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “When you’re not getting a goal and you’re not getting a save at the other end, that’s the kind of scores that you get.”

Elliott’s best stop came in the third period. Shortly after Karlsson cut the Sharks’ deficit to 4-2 with seven minutes remaining, Elliott whipped out his glove to rob Kevin Labanc from 25 feet out.

“A lot of us are getting chances. We’re not going out there with our sticks upside down and not working and packing it in. That’s not the case here,” Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said. “We’ve just got to try to stay positive, work through it and help each other.”