In Calgary, Dustin Wolf made 23 saves in his NHL debut on Wednesday night, and the Flames downed the San Jose Sharks, 3-1.
“It’s rewarding,” Wolf said. “You put the work in each and every day and you dream about that as a kid. To get that first game and first win, it feels really awesome. Obviously it leaves you wanting more.”
It was the season finale for the Flames, who missed the playoffs.
Nikita Zadorov hit for a hat trick in the win.
“It definitely was hard to find emotion to play that game, for sure,” Zadorov said. “We missed the playoffs last game. It [stinks]. It wasn’t what we were expecting. Definitely a disappointing season for our group. Last game was like ‘get it done’ for our fans and the city of Calgary. I think guys played with heart for the fans, for sure.”
The Sharks took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal frm Noah Gregor .
“I thought we played hard tonight,” Gregor said. “They got some looks in the O-zone that Kaapo had to make some good saves on, some long shifts in the D-zone for us. I thought we played hard all night. Just couldn’t muster up too much in the O-zone.”
It was ninth goal of the season, career high.
“I was able to get some speed,” Gregor said. “[Radim Simek] put a pass on my tape and I tried to get past the [defenseman], got a step on him, fired it and was able to pick up the rebound. It was nice to see it go in.”
Zadorov hit for his first of the game in the middle frame for a 1-1 tie coming out of the second.
Zadorov scored twice in the third, including an empty-netter for the 3-1 final.
“I blacked out. I’m not going to lie,” Zadorov said. “[Rasmus Andersson] told me to just go for it. First time it hit the D-man. Second time I just closed my eyes, kind of felt where the net was, got a lucky bounce. It was nice. Fade. Six-iron in there. It worked.”
Kaapo Kahkonen made 46 saves in the loss, it was an NHL career-high .
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