The San Jose Sharks had one ultimate likelihood to play spoiler on Sunday night time and finish the already precarious playoff hopes of the Calgary Flames.
However with the sport tied within the third interval, the Sharks allowed even-strength objectives to forwards Yegor Sharangovich and Matt Coronato in a 5-2 loss to the Flames on the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Sharangovich beat Sharks goalie Georgi Romanov 90 seconds into the third interval with a wrist shot after he took a nifty cross from Morgan Frost within the slot.
Coronato scored on the 10:55 mark after he shook off a verify from Nikolai Kovalenko, took a cross from Mikael Backlund, and beat Romanov from in shut for his twenty fourth of the season.
Sharangovich added an empty-net aim with 2:44 to go because the Flames swept their season collection with the Sharks 4-0 and saved their playoff hopes alive.
Tyler Toffoli scored his thirtieth aim of the season within the first interval and assisted on Jan Rutta’s third aim of the yr, which tied the sport 2-2 on the 4:20 mark of the second interval.
On his aim, Toffoli took a cross from Lucas Carlsson and put a shot on internet that Flames goalie Dustin Wolf stopped. However Toffoli collected the rebound, took a stride to his proper, and fired one other shot slightly below the crossbar to achieve the 30-goal plateau for the third consecutive yr.
Toffoli, who signed a four-year contract with San Jose on the primary day of free company final July, grew to become the third participant in Sharks historical past to document 30 objectives of their first season with the crew, becoming a member of Dany Heatley (39 in 2009-10) and Sergei Makarov (30 in 1993-94).
Toffoli scored 34 objectives as a member of the Flames in 2022-23 and 33 final season when he began the yr with the New Jersey Devils earlier than he was traded to the Winnipeg Jets.
Toffoli nearly had his thirty first on a Sharks third-period energy play, as he collected a unfastened puck in entrance of the Flames’ internet that caromed off the tip boards. However with the puck on its edge, Toffoli didn’t get an awesome shot away, and Wolf shortly slid over and made the save.
The Sharks allowed first-period even-strength objectives to MacKenzie Weegar and Adam Klapka because the Flames scored twice on their first 5 pictures. However Romanov nonetheless had 20 saves within the first two durations, together with three on the penalty kill. Romanov completed with 25 saves as his document this season fell to 0-6-0.
The Sharks got here into Sunday having already clinched, so to talk, thirty second and final place within the NHL’s general standings. The Flames, although, wanted a win to maintain alive their flickering playoff hopes.
Calgary is now three factors again of the Minnesota Wild and two factors again of the St. Louis Blues for the 2 wild-card spots within the Western Convention. Minnesota and St. Louis each have one sport left, and Calgary now has two video games left to catch the Wild or the Blues.
The Wild would have clinched a playoff berth had the Flames misplaced to the Sharks in any vogue, and the Blues would have secured a postseason berth if Calgary had misplaced to San Jose in regulation time.
The Flames end the common season with a house sport in opposition to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday and a highway sport in Los Angeles on Thursday.
The Sharks end the common season with a sport in Vancouver on Monday and a house date in opposition to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
Initially Printed: April 13, 2025 at 7:40 PM PDT
