San Jose’s playoff push hit a snag in Edmonton on Thursday, but the Sharks get another shot in Alberta when they visit the Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon.
The Sharks sit on the cusp of the second Western Conference wild-card spot. They trail the Utah Mammoth by two points and the Anaheim Ducks by one point and hold two games in hand over both sides.
San Jose is one point behind the Seattle Kraken in the Pacific Division standings with a game in hand. Had the Sharks clung to their lead against the Oilers, they would have hurdled Seattle for third in the division.
After getting tallies from Collin Graf, Adam Gaudette and Michael Misa in the opening 11:40, San Jose allowed a trio of third-period goals — two in the final 3:05 with Edmonton’s net empty — before falling in overtime.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said they needed to be better with a chance to put away an elite offensive foe but had problems containing superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
“Our 6-on-5 was obviously not good enough,” Warsofsky said. “I mean, they’re the best offensive team in the world, (and) you’ve got to defend the two best players in the world.”
Star center Macklin Celebrini assisted Graf’s goal to move his point total to 79, fourth in the league.
William Eklund’s helper on Gaudette’s goal gave him 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists), though the 23-year-old left wing is last on the club with a minus-23 rating.
The Flames are lodged in their second-worst slump of the season. It sits at five games (0-3-2) as they prepare to open a three-game homestand that also features the Toronto Maple Leafs and provincial nemesis Edmonton.
Following a season-opening 4-3 shootout win over the Oilers on Oct. 8, Calgary proceeded to fall into an 0-7-1 skid that set a terrible tone.
Only the Vancouver Canucks’ abysmal 41-point showing has kept the 48-point Flames out of last place in the NHL standings.
Calgary’s 4-1 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday was more of the same, results-wise, for the team and coach Ryan Huska.
Matters were made worse when Huska announced that 34-year-old winger Blake Coleman would be out through the Olympic break with an upper-body injury, hamstringing Calgary’s leadership.
Mentioned in numerous trade talks, Coleman is second on the team with 13 goals, has 21 points and owns a plus-10 rating.
“I think what he brings on the ice is invaluable for our team,” Huska said, “but if you can find another word to describe what he brings off the ice, I’d use that word. He’s an important piece of our team, for sure.”
Off an assist from Jonathan Huberdeau, Morgan Frost scored his 11th goal in the setback in St. Paul, tying him for fourth on the team with Yegor Sharangovich.
Matt Coronato paces Calgary with 14 goals, and Mikael Backlund’s 12 is right behind Coleman’s number.
Goaltender Dustin Wolf’s first of two shutouts came Nov. 13 when the Flames beat San Jose 2-0 at home.
The blanking was the second ever by a California-born netminder against a California club. Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko shut out the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 6, 2021.
–Field Level Media
