With the game appearing to be heading to overtime, the Calgary Flames’ Dougie Hamilton scored with 2:19 left in regulation to give the Flames a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.
But it took Chad Johnson stopping a breakaway with eight seconds left by Mikkel Boedker as the Sharks were shorthanded to save the win.
“I think everybody was pretty shocked,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a power play and all of a sudden, eight seconds left, a guy’s on a breakaway from the blue line. You’ve kind
Chad Johnson (#31) – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
of just try to stay focused and stay with him and thankfully nothing came of it.”
Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Frolik also had goals for the Flames.
Calgary improved to 23-19-2 and have been a much improved team since November.
“I think for us, we’ve just got to try to win every game,” Hamilton said. “Right now it’s tough to move up the standings, [but] we’ve got to do it now instead of trying to do it later in the season.”
Johnson made 25 saves for the win; he stopped Boedker on a penalty shot with about five minutes left in regulation.
“I played with him [with the Phoenix Coyotes], so I tried to go back in the memory log there and just try to remember what he did,” Johnson said. “He had two good looks there, but I got lucky and made the saves.”
The Sharks dropped to 25-15-2 on the season and got goals from Logan Couture and Brent Burns in the loss.
“You try to get the points every night,” Burns said. “Tonight we didn’t. You have to come back. That’s all that matters to us. We don’t care about the other stuff.”
Aaron Dell made 25 saves in the loss.
“You would’ve liked a different outcome. The penalty shot is always difficult. You come down and you feel you have the right move and you just ride it out. He’s a goalie that stays back and is patient,” Boedker said. “Then the last one there with [eight] seconds left, it hit him and went wide. It’s something I would like to change, but it’s good to have those opportunities and get those chances. It’s what you want as a player. But a different outcome would’ve been nice.”
WATCH: All Sharks vs. Flames highlights
You must be logged in to post a comment.