The San Jose Sharks lost a chance to take over sole possession
of first place in the Pacific Division Thursday night by dropping a
3-2 overtime contest to the Calgary Flames at HP Pavilion.
The San Jose Sharks lost a chance to take over sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division Thursday night by dropping a 3-2 overtime contest to the Calgary Flames at HP Pavilion.
Phoenix and Montreal each won home games, leaving the Sharks as the lone club with just six home wins nearing the halfway point in the NHL season. San Jose has been able to fashion a league-best road mark (16-3-2), leading to the second-place total of 50 points, tying the Dallas Stars for leadership in the division.
San Jose finished with a 36-20 margin in shots, but the final shot by a Flame resulted in the game-winner 3:26 into overtime.
Defenseman Dion Phaneuf stopped at the right San Jose post on and tried to backhand a shot past goalie Evgeni Nabokov. The long rebound found a charging Jarome Iginla in the slot for the quick follow-through and the decider as Calgary (49 points) remained one point out of first place in the Northwest Division.
San Jose had last played on Dec. 31 when the Sharks extended a winning road mark to 10 games by outlasting Minnesota 3-2. The Flames played Wednesday night at home, defeating the New York Rangers.4-3. Calgary did not appear to be the more tired team in the first period, putting together a 2-1 advantage.
The Sharks posted a 14-8 edge in shots on net in the first period, yet could never take the lead.
Instead, the Flames enjoyed a 1-0 lead only 60 seconds into action. Alex Tanguay netted his 10th goal of the year off a Daymond Langkow assist.
San Jose pulled even with a power play goal at the 4:03 mark.
Just 14 seconds were left on a Matthew Lombardi hooking call when Torrey Mitchell scored for the 1-1 tie. Jeremy Roenick fired a long cross-ice pass to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff at the right point. The Shark’s shot skimmed off a screening Jonathan Cheechoo at the Flames crease and just over the right pad of Flame goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. Torrey was positioned at the crease and tapped in the rebound for his eighth of the campaign.
Calgary regained the lead when Iginla scored from close range past Nabokov with 3:34 left in the first period.
The Sharks had two quality chances to tie the score midway in the second period, but both threats ended with a Kiprusoff save. Mitchell and Mike Grier sped off on a 2-on-1 rush that ended when Kiprusoff sled to his right to repel Grier’s offering. One minute later, Patrick Marleau left the penalty box at the right moment to take a headman pass and set off for a breakaway that led to Kiprusoff’s glove save.
Craig Rivet scored his third goal of the year with a booming shot from the right point to tie the score at 2-2 13:54 into the second. Calgary attempted to clear the puck along the right boards, but Rivet pounced on the loose puck and delivered the shot past a screened Kiprusoff and into the top right corner of the net.
The rested Sharks spent the majority of a scoreless third period in the Calgary zone, resulting in a 7-4 edge in shots in the span while leading to overtime.
