5 THINGS - FLAMES @ SHARKS
Calgary looks to win second straight in San Jose
Video: Brendan Parker sets up tonight's tilt
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GAME DAY FEATURES
'Try To Take Advantage Of It' - DeSimone
Projected Lineup
Say What: 'More Of That Tonight'
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Elias Lindholm (28)
Goals - Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli, Nazem Kadri (11)
Sharks:
Points - Erik Karlsson (41)
Goals - Timo Meier (16)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 20% (23rd) | 80.7% (9th)
Sharks:
PP - 22.2% (17th) | PK - 83.8% (2nd)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 54.70% (4th)
High-Danger Chances: 50.75% (16th)
Sharks:
Shot Attempts: 48.61% (23rd)
High-Danger Chances: 55.47% (4th)
It's the type of killer instinct the Flames have been looking for on a more consistent basis this season, beating the Sharks 5-2 Sunday night.
>> Click here to read game story
Taking on the Sharks in the first of this two-straight-in-San-Jose set, Tyler Toffoli took advantage of a Sharks miscue and made them pay with a perfectly placed shot after a turnover in the opposition zone. The Sharks later got a tally from Timo Meier to knot things at one after 20 minutes.
Then it was the Big Man Milan Lucic scoring his first of the season on a beauty in the second and heading into the third, it was all about a little carpe diem - make good and seize the day.
And boy did they - in historic style.
Elias Lindholm scored a pair in the first 35 seconds of the final frame - a new Flames franchise mark (see more below in Fast Facts) - and they didn't let their foot off the gas, Dillon Dube then rounding out the scoring with a wild tight-angle shot into an open net.
It was the type of game the Flames want to make the norm: taking advantage of their opportunties to finish out opponents.
>> Tanev Activated From IR
"It's obviously good to contribute offensively, but the main thing is getting a big win here to start off the road trip," said Lucic. "This is a huge time of year for us - a huge road trip for us before the Christmas break starts - and we wanted to make sure we brought one of our best road games here tonight.
"Nice to contribute, especially when it's a 1-1 game to get that go-ahead goal and win that game."
The Flames have had trouble at times this year finding the back of the net despite often having a bevy of quality chances. This victory was the type of game that helps builds confidence.
"I think it was nice to see we bang a couple quick in a row there," said MacKenzie Weegar after the team's practice on Monday. "Feels good. I know a lot of the guys - sometimes you talk about bearing down and whatnot - but I think it's going to come here. If they stay with it and they don't get too frustrated, but they bear down on those chances and keep the confidence up, I think it's going to go a long way for the team. There was lots of energy on the bench last night, too. It was a good game and we have to keep this thing rolling.
"And everybody starts to get going, feeling good, keep that positive energy. Keep it loose, keep it light, but at the same time, still keep playing hard and keep pushing the pace."
Defenceman Dennis Gilbert drew into the lineup in the tilt, with Head Coach Darryl Sutter electing to play seven defenceman and 11 forwards. Brett Ritchie, Matthew Phillips and Radim Zohorna (non-COVID illness) were the scratches up front.
Gilbert had a spirited scrap with Jonah Gadjovich in the game and left for repairs and did not return. The Flames recalled DeSimone from AHL Tuesday, Gilbert placed on IR. Click to read
Check out the lines and pairs from Monday in Torie Peterson's Practice Notebook.
Video: Condensed Game: Flames @ Sharks
MAGNIFICENT MARKSTROM: Jacob Markstrom played in his 400th NHL game on Sunday night in San Jose and celebrated it with the 5-2 win. Markstrom turned aside 26 of the 28 shots he faced at the SAP Center and is currently second in wins among all goalies from the 2008 NHL draft, trailing only Braden Holtby. Markstrom was a second-round pick by Florida and spent parts of four seasons with the Panthers. He was then traded to Vancouver where he spent seven seasons and earned his first All-Star Game nod with the Canucks in 2020. He signed with the Flames as a free agent during the 2020 off-season and has played in 128 games with Calgary.
Video: "The guys played a great game over 60 minutes"
POSITIVE PLAY:Defenceman Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin were both a season-high +4 on Sunday night in San Jose. That is the highest plus/minus rating of any skater on the Flames so far this season and for Rasmus Andersson the third time he has been a +4 in his career. As for Noah Hanifin, he has been a +4 or higher four times in his career and the pair both recorded an assist in the 5-2 win.
LETHAL ELIAS: Elias Lindholm set a Flames franchise record with the fastest two goals to start a period by one player with his pair of tallies coming just 0:35 seconds into the third period on Sunday night in San Jose. Lindholm is now tied for the eighth-fastest two goals by one player to start a period in NHL history. The last skater to score two faster period-opening tallies was Mike Knuble who scored a pair of goals 0:27 into the opening period on Feb. 14, 2003 while he was a member of the Bruins. With the pair of goals, Lindholm is now ninth in multi-goal games by a centre in Flames franchise history with 16 multi-goal efforts as well as moving into second in career game winning goals by a European player in franchise history with 26, only trailing Mikael Backlund's 32 GWG's.
Stick tap to Flames Communications Coordinator Jordan Bay for compiling these notes.
Follow him and the Flames PR team @FlamesPR on Twitter for more.
Flames - Elias Lindholm
The Flames centre kicked off this trip with a bang, as noted above. He picked up three points Sunday in San Jose and has five points in his last two games.
Sharks - Erik Karlsson
Talk about a bounce-back season for the veteran. The Sharks blueliner picked up a pair of assists in the loss Sunday and was sitting eighth in league scoring heading into Tuesday action, and was tops among blueliners with 12 goals and 41 points.
MacKenzie Weegar on importance of next three games:
"It's huge. It kind of shows where the teams are at. Because I know after Christmas, games get really tight and points mean a lot. They mean a lot now, but I think right now, these three games are huge, but we've got to take it one game at a time, just focus on tomorrow, focus on winning that game and then moving on to LA and Anaheim. But I think right now, we just need to stay focused on tomorrow night."
Video: MacKenzie Weegar on playing with 7 D in San Jose
Hockey players are widely known for their toughness.
We're rarely aware of any injury or ailment they're playing through on any given night.
But maybe one of the toughest moments at the Scotiabank Saddledome this year came from someone other than a member of the Flames.
Click to readBrendan Parker's feature story on 7-year-old James Lipowy, who is currently fighting cancer, with support from some of his biggest fans: Chris Tanev and the Flames.
