San Jose Sharks keep cool to win 2-1 after shootout against Calgary Flames - NHL Update
The San Jose Sharks pulled off a 2-1 victory after a shootout over the Calgary Flames to return back to winning ways on Tuesday at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
The game was a low scoring affair after both teams goaltenders put in brilliant performances. San Jose’s Antti Niemi made 27 saves while Calgary Flames Mikka Kiprusoff made 30.
The Sharks were victorious however, and the game could have been over in overtime but for a wrongly disallowed Sharks goal by the officials.
The Sharks have moved up to third in the Western Conference with a 26-12-5 record and 57 points and look increasingly better with every game.
Calgary Flames have now lost two games in a row and are part of the bottom four in the Western Conference with a poor 21-20-6 record and 48 points.
The first period remained goalless as the goaltenders kept the scores level with a string of brilliant saves. The Flames finally broke the deadlock in the second period through Chris Butler at 12:07. Butler scored with a powerful slap shot to beat Niemi after Jarome Iginla’s misplaced pass luckily found the forward in a good position.
With Mikka Kiprusoff stopping attacks after attacks by the Sharks the Flames maintained their single goal advantage to end the period 1-0.
The Sharks however, were not out of the game for long and the single goal lead was pegged back at 10:44 in the third period as Torrey Mitchell scored to bring the Sharks level.
The game remained tied for the rest of the period and overtime was on the cards as both sides looked for the winner.
Late in overtime it seemed that Justin Braun had won it for the Sharks as the puck went inside the Flames net but the officials disallowed the goal since in their opinion Kiprusoff had been interfered with during the play.
Replays showed that the decision was wrong and the Sharks bench was incensed but they could not do anything about it as the game went to a shootout.
"Obviously we can come in here, look at the replay and see that it was not the right call. They don't have that luxury," Sharks Coach Todd McLellan said. "Regulation and overtime wins mean a lot more than shootout wins, and we don't have one in the bank, and we probably should have."
Kiprusoff and Niemi both stopped the first shots on their goal in the shootout. Michal Handzus put the Sharks 1-0 up as he beat Kiprusoff.
Michael Cammalleri missed his shot for the Flames and the Sharks just needed to beat Kiprusoff again for the win. Brent Burns did just that as he beat the Flames goaltender with a well taken effort to give his side a deserved and important win.
The Sharks will face the Senators on Thursday as they look to build on their wins while the Flames travel to Los Angeles to face the Kings.
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