CALGARY
Philadelphia Flyers Hats
Womens , Alberta (AP) ¡ª Down by three goals going into the third
period, the Calgary Flames were far from done.Mark Giordano had a goal and two
assists, and Calgary scored five straight times in the third to rally past the
Colorado Avalanche 6-5 on Thursday night.With the game tied 4-all, Giordano
scored the go-ahead goal at 13:47 when he jumped up into the rush, took a pass
from Mikael Backlund and snapped a shot over the blocker of goaltender Semyon
Varlamov.¡°If you¡¯re coming in late and their forwards are scrambling back,
sometimes things open up,¡± said Giordano, who has two goals and 12 assists this
season. ¡°I was happy (Backlund) found me there, it was a good spot to shoot
from.¡±Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, James Neal and Michael Frolik also
scored for the Flames (8-5-1), who have won three straight. Matthew Tkachuk
added three assists.It¡¯s already the fourth time this season the Flames have
come back to win when trailing after two periods.Colin Wilson, Vladislav
Kamenev, Sheldon Dries, Carl Soderberg and Gabriel Landeskog scored for Colorado
(7-4-2), which has lost three of four.It was the first career goal for both
Kamenev and Dries.¡°Five goals in the third is a lot. Give credit to them, but we
definitely had a hand in letting them come back
Custom Philadelphia
Flyers Jerseys ,¡± said Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, who was
held off the scoresheet and ended up minus-3.Trailing 4-1 after two periods,
Calgary began its comeback 47 seconds into the third on Lindholm¡¯s power-play
goal, his team-leading ninth goal of the season.The man advantage was the result
of a charging major on Ian Cole late in the second period after his heavy hit
crumpled Mark Jankowski as he was looking back for a pass. Shaken up, Jankowski
went to the dressing room.He returned to sit on the bench in the third, but did
not play. After the game, he was deemed healthy.It was the response to the hit
from Sam Bennett, who immediately fought Cole, that players pointed to as the
turning point.¡°He¡¯s a feisty little kid. He definitely knows how to throw them,¡±
Backlund said. ¡°That gave the team some momentum and some energy. Great job by
him stepping up for the team and for Janko. It brought a lot of energy into the
room going into the third.¡±The Flames drew within one at 5:21 when Monahan
deflected Noah Hanifin¡¯s point shot.The Saddledome crowd then roared at 10:52
when Neal got the puck in the slot and ripped a shot past Varlamov for his third
goal and a tie game.¡°It felt good, obviously, for me,¡± said Neal, who had been
off to a slow start with just two goals in his first 13 games. ¡°Personally, I
want to score goals, you want to help the team win. It¡¯s been a little bit of
tough sledding here at the start, but I¡¯ve been through it before. You just try
to stick with it and you get rewarded like I did tonight.¡±The sequence leading
up to Neal¡¯s goal began when rookie defenseman Juuso Valimaki caught Matt
Calvert with a body check at the blue line, turning the puck over.¡°He timed it
perfect and to be able to keep the puck in the zone
www.sanjosesharksteamshop.com ,
all in one shot. That was a real turning point, too,¡± Giordano said. ¡°Really put
them back on their heels and then we kept going.¡±Just more than a minute after
Giordano¡¯s go-ahead goal, Frolik made it a two-goal lead, one-timing Tkachuk¡¯s
feed for his sixth goal.The Avalanche got a power-play goal from Landeskog at
18:57 to set up a harrowing finish.Landeskog¡¯s goal first appeared to be
Wilson¡¯s second of the game before the Colorado captain was credited with his
11th of the season. Wilson picked up an assist on the play.Mike Smith got the
win despite giving up five goals on 26 shots. He improved to 5-4-1.Varlamov, who
entered with a 1.62 goals-against average and .950 save percentage, made 31
saves. The five goals he allowed in the third period came on just 11 shots.¡°Lack
of detail and lack of commitment,¡± Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. ¡°We
resorted back to bad habits like circling away from the puck.¡±Calgary was
controlling the game, outshooting the Avs 17-4, when a stray pass from Giordano
resulted in Kamenev breaking up the ice on a short-handed 2-on-1 and scoring his
first career goal.Less than two minutes later, Dries got his first NHL goal when
his rebound banked off the skate of Rasmus Andersson in the slot and went into
the net.NOTES: Monahan extended his point streak to five games (two goals, six
assists). ¡ Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen has 21 points, tying the franchise
record for October set by Joe Sakic in 1996.UP NEXTAvalanche: At the Vancouver
Canucks on Friday night.Flames: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) The San Jose Sharks head back to the Midwest for their
final road trip of the season looking like a far different team than the one
that stumbled its way through a tour of the Central Division just last
month.They have the midseason additions of Evander Kane and Eric Fehr to thank
for that.With Kane provide a scoring threat and physical play as a top-line wing
and Fehr solidifying the fourth line and penalty kill, the Sharks are playing as
well as anyone in the NHL down the stretch with a seven-game winning streak that
is the team¡¯s longest in five years.During this streak, they have managed to win
wide-open games as well as tight checking ones and have managed to negate the
speed of teams such as Vegas as well as deal with more physical play like they
had Saturday in a 5-1 win over Calgary.¡±I think that¡¯s something we¡¯re trying to
pride ourselves on,¡± defenseman Brenden Dillon said. ¡±Playoffs you¡¯re going to
meet all sorts of teams, speed teams
San Jose Sharks
T-Shirts Womens , teams that can play hard down low. I think we¡¯ve
got the personnel that we¡¯re able to match up with those. We¡¯re doing things in
practice to prepare for them.¡±The Sharks are in prime position with just two
weeks left in the regular season. They have moved within six points of
first-place Vegas in the Pacific Division with seven games remaining, giving
them an outside shot at a division title. But perhaps more importantly, they
entered Sunday six points ahead of Anaheim and Los Angeles in the race for
home-ice advantage in the first round.It¡¯s a far cry from last March when a
six-game losing streak cost San Jose a chance at the division title and the team
was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by Edmonton. Now they¡¯re
playing their best hockey in March.¡±We¡¯re a desperate team,¡± Kane said. ¡±We need
all the points we can get. We haven¡¯t clinched a playoff spot yet. The teams
that are right behind us keep winning. We have to keep pushing forward and keep
picking up points as we close out the season in order to secure a spot. It¡¯s
good to get in that playoff mindset right now.¡±Kane has provided a major lift
since his arrival in a deadline deal with Buffalo on Feb. 26. He has stepped
onto the top line with center Joe Pavelski and provided a scoring threat and
some needed toughness to help make up for the absence of Joe Thornton, who has
missed two months with a knee injury. Thornton has started skating again, but
there is no timetable for his return.Kane has seven goals and five assists while
helping the Sharks to a NHL-best 10-2 record since he arrived. The team is
scoring 4.2 goals per game with Kane in the lineup after scoring just 2.8 goals
per game before he arrived.¡±He¡¯s a crucial part to our team,¡± center Chris
Tierney said. ¡±You can see how much he brings, whether it¡¯s the physicality side
or the goal scoring. He adds a lot of depth to us and he¡¯s been great for us so
far. Just gives us an extra layer of everything.¡±While Kane¡¯s play has gotten
most of the attention, the addition of Fehr just a week earlier has also had a
big impact. Fehr has filled a hole at fourth-line center, allowing coach Peter
DeBoer the freedom to roll through his lines without fear of mismatches, and
added an accomplished penalty killer to a unit that ranks second best in the
NHL.That line has even provided an offensive boost of late, especially since
Jannik Hansen moved back into the lineup alongside Fehr and Barclay Goodrow
after Joonas Donskoi went down with a shoulder injury.All three fourth-liners
scored goals in a win last Tuesday against New Jersey and Hansen added another
in the homestand finale on Saturday against Calgary after failing to score any
goals in his first 39 games this season.¡±It always helps when you¡¯re helping out
and you¡¯re producing,¡± said Hansen, who was a healthy scratch for long portions
of the season.¡±It gets you momentum, it makes you feel good about the game. The
puck doesn¡¯t bounce as much, stuff like that. Obviously whenever we can chip in
it¡¯s a big part. We want to roll four lines and the fourth line is a part of
that.¡±¡ª