Sharks rally to beat Flames on Donskoi’s shootout goal (Dec 28, 2017)
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Joonas Donskoi scored the winning goal in a shootout, and the San Jose Sharks rallied to beat the Calgary Flames 3-2 on Thursday.
The Sharks were stymied for most of the night by Flames goalie David Rittich, but they got a late goal in the third period on Timo Meier’s re-directed shot.
Joe Pavelski, who scored San Jose’s first goal, got the puck past Rittich in the first round of the shootout. After Calgary missed its first two attempts, Donskoi deked Rittich and then wrapped a shot around the goalie for the game-winner.
Martin Jones made 32 saves for San Jose.
Both teams missed multiple scoring chances in the extra period, including a one-timer by Calgary’s TJ Brodie that was stopped by Jones.
Rittich made 30 saves in his fourth career start. Mikael Backlund and Garnet Hathaway scored for the Flames, and Jaromir Jagr took another step toward breaking Gordie Howe’s record for games.
Calgary lost for the first time this season when leading after two periods.
Jagr entered early in the first period, tying Ron Francis for third place on the NHL’s games played list with 1,731. Jagr, who played 13 minutes, turns 46 in February and needs 37 games to break Gordie Howe’s record of 1,767.
Hathaway took advantage when the Sharks had trouble clearing the puck from in front of the net and tapped in his second goal of the season to put Calgary up 1-0 early in the first period.
After Pavelski tied it with a power-play goal, Backlund re-directed a power-play shot by Tkachuk past Jones to make it 2-1 Flames at 15:45 of the first.
NOTES: Pavelski’s goal was his 200th since 2011-12, fourth-most in the NHL during that time. … Jagr had missed the previous two games with a lower-body injury. … The Sharks have scored at least one power-play goal in nine consecutive games. … Sharks C Logan Couture missed his fourth straight game because of a concussion, but is making progress and took part in the morning skate before the decision was made to hold him out. … Rittich made his NHL debut in San Jose in the final regular-season game last year.
UP NEXT
Flames: Play at Anaheim on Friday.
Sharks: Play at Dallas on Friday.
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