The San Jose Sharks finished third in the Pacific Division following a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at SAP Center Saturday.
No goals were scored in the opening period. After a scoreless 20 minutes, the Flames edged the Sharks in shots 6-5.
The Sharks opened the scoring just 4:48 into the second period. Chris Tierney drove in front of the net and buried a backhand pass from Jannik Hansen for his 11th goal of the season.
The Sharks took a 2-0 lead with 1:53 left in the period. Tierney flicked a saucer pass to Mikkel Boedker, who collected the puck and shot it past Brian Elliott for his 10th goal of the season.
The Flames weren’t ready to back down yet. They the lead in half with just six seconds left on the clock. Curtis Lazar scored his first goal of the season. Lazar received a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and blasted a one-timer through traffic, beating Aaron Dell.
The Sharks held a 2-1 lead over the Flames after 40 minutes. Shots were 17-15 in favor of San Jose.
The Sharks went ahead 3-1 with 8:35 left in the third period. Michael Stone was called for hooking Hansen at 9:56. Brent Burns sent a shot to Marc-Edouard Vlasic that was deflected off a Flames defender and Danny O’Regan’s stick. As a result, O’Regan earned his first NHL goal.
The Sharks (46-29-7) beat the Flames (45-33-4) by a score of 3-1. Dell finished with 20 saves in a San Jose victory.
Elliott made 15 saves on 17 shots before being pulled. David Rittich made nine saves in relief of Elliott.
Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon told NHL.com: “I think for us, we were missing a lot of important pieces tonight. But anytime you finish the regular season, you want to have a little momentum. We had a tough March and a first bit of April, but we’re going to build on this.”
Notes
Scratched: Justin Braun, Tim Heed, Danny O’Regan, Michael Haley
Injured: Logan Couture (mouth), Joe Thornton (left knee)
Sharks recalled O’Regan, Timo Meier, Tim Heed and Barclay Goodrow from the Barracuda Saturday morning.
Burns was selected as the Shark Foundation “Sharks Player of the Year” for 2016-17. He was also voted as the winner of the Sharks’ “Fan Favorite” Award for the season.
Kevin Labanc was selected as this year’s SAP “Rookie of the Year.”
Martin Jones won the 2016-17 Xactly Inspired Performance “Three Stars of the Year” award. Jones was honored with an award from Xactly in an on-ice presentation after Saturday night’s game against the Flames. On behalf of the winner, Xactly donated $5,000 to the Sharks Foundation.
Up Next
The Sharks will wait to see if they’ll face the Anaheim Ducks (45-23-13) or Edmonton Oilers (46-26-9) in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“It doesn’t really matter for us what kind of building we go into,” Tierney told NHL.com. “We’ve been able to win tough games on the road before. I think when you go on the road in a playoff game, you dial in even more almost than home ice.”
