SAN JOSE
– Joe Pavelski’s line combined for nine points Saturday night as
the San Jose Sharks turned back the Calgary Flames 4-3 at sold-out
HP Pavlion.
SAN JOSE – Joe Pavelski’s line combined for nine points Saturday night as the San Jose Sharks turned back the Calgary Flames 4-3 at sold-out HP Pavlion.
The win lifted San Jose into a tie for seventh place in the Western Conference with 18 points along with Chicago and Columbus. The Sharks complete the five-game home stand Monday against the Los Angeles Kings.
Pavelski, Logan Couture and Ryane Clowe each registered one goal and two assists as San Jose improved to 8-5-2. Calgary fell to 7-9-0 in 14th place in the 15-team conference.
After Couture scored with 5:50 left in the contest to make it a 4-2 San Jose advantage, Calgary pulled its goaltender in the closing minute. Jarome Iginla slipped a goal past goalie Antti Niemi with 36.3 seconds left to complete the scoring.
The only goal not accomplished by the Pavelski line went to Joe Thornton. The captain scored 1:08 into play when he rifled a pass behind Flame goalie Miikka Kiprusoff during a San Jose power play. Jason Demers and Dan Boyle earned assists.
The Sharks took a 2-0 cushion into the first intermission off a Clowe goal at the 10:24 mark. Clowe controlled the puck around the Flame net and fed it to Pavelski at the top of the left circle. After taking a return pass, Clowe turned and found an opening past Kiprusoff’s right arm for his third goal of the season.
Calgary was on a 5-on-3 power play early in the second period when Mark Giardano lined a low shot under Niemi’s right pad at the 51-second mark. Ian White and Iginla assisted.
San Jose regained the two-goal lead by accounting for the only other goal of the second period. Couture’s hard shot from the low slot with repelled by Kiprusoff, but Pavelski was alert at the left post to collect the puck and glide it under Kiprusoff’s right pad at 16:22.
Calgary’s Jay Bouwmeester slipped behind Shark pressure to drive a shot by Niemi from the slot at 9:14 of the third period. The Sharks regained the two-goal edge at 14:10 when Clowe skated along the right boards on a 2-on-1 rush before dishing to Couture for the one-timer inside the left post from the left dot.
The Sharks return to HP Pavilion Saturday Nov. 20 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
