A San Jose Sharks Blog

The first period set the tone of the entire game; a total of 12 penalty minutes were racked up by both teams for their chippy play and it made for an exciting game. Both the Sharks and the Flames enjoyed three power play opportunities, but the first period ended in a scoreless tie.

In the second period, the Sharks scored at 7:50. Winger Milan Michalek put in his 25th of the season giving assists to Matt Carle and Joe Thornton. Near the face-off dot, Carle tried to put a shot on goal, but the puck deflected towards the high slot where an oncoming Michalek slapped it by Miikka Kiprusoff. Less than two minutes later, Mark Bell scored his 11th of the season to extend the lead to two goals. Unfortunately, the Flames scored their first goal of the game less than a minute later bringing the score to 2 - 1. Continuing the high-impact play of the first, both teams continued to go to the body. Filled with hooking, slashing, boarding, and elbowing, the period came to end without another goal being scored.

Within the first six minutes of the third period, the Sharks scored two quick goals giving them a comfortable three goal lead. The first goal of the period came off of the stick of Mike Grier; from the near boards, Grier slapped a shot towards a screened Kiprusoff, ringing the puck off of the far post and in. The second Sharks goal of the period belonged to Jonathan Cheechoo, his 36th of the season. From behind the net, Thornton picked up the puck from Michalek and snapped a pass in front to Cheechoo who quickly one-timed the puck for the goal. On the play, Thornton posted his 90th assist on the season joining Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky as the only players to record back-to-back 90+ assists seasons.

After gaining the three goal lead, the Sharks seemed to ease up and got away from their physical play that proved effective earlier in the game. At 10:49, Iginla scored his 38th goal of the season giving an assist to former Shark Brad Stuart. Less than five minutes later, Iginla scored again cutting the Sharks' lead to one. Fortunately, the Sharks were able to lock things down and finish the game with a final score of 4 - 3.

With this loss, the Flames will have to wait and see if they can lock up the final playoff spot later this weekend. As for the Sharks, they look forward to matching up with another skilled team bound for the post-season...the Vancouver Canucks.