Sharks gain in Pacific race with win against Flames

SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks moved closer to first place in the Pacific Division with a season-high seventh straight win, 5-1 against the Calgary Flames at SAP Center on Saturday.

WATCH: [All Flames vs. Sharks highlights]
The Sharks (43-23-9) hold second place in the Pacific, six points behind the Vegas Golden Knights, who lost 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout. San Jose's streak is its longest since winning seven straight from March 25 to April 5, 2013.
Martin Jones made 37 saves for his sixth straight win, and Evander Kane scored two goals.

"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 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."
The Flames (35-31-10) lost their fifth straight game and trail the Anaheim Ducks by nine points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
David Rittich made 28 saves, and Michael Stone scored.

"Guys are still engaged here, guys are still wanting to play physical and wanting to play hard and wanting to play for the team and wanting to play for the teammates and making sure that we're not having any lapses in our efforts," Calgary forward Troy Brouwer said. "We're not technically out of the playoffs yet, so we're still playing hard to try to do what we can to get ourselves in, and tonight was obviously another setback."
Brenden Dillon gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 7:52 of the first period. He took a backward pass from Chris Tierney and scored from the high slot. The goal was Dillon's fourth of the season and third in six games. He also had an assist and a fight for a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, and has eight points in his past seven games.
"He does a lot of heavy lifting for us on a nightly basis and doesn't get a lot of headlines," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "But he's a very valuable guy for us and I think he's improved as much or more than anyone on the team."
Jannik Hansen made it 2-0 at 9:06 when he deflected a Brent Burns pass off Flames forward Mark Jankowski's skate. Hansen, a fourth-line wing, has scored his two goals this season in the past three games.

Calgary made it 2-1 at 12:17 on Stone's slap shot from the right point.
"They won a little bit of the war of the paint, the blue paint ," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We were around it, we put a lot of rubber there, we were in front of him but we just couldn't get anything to go."
Jones made 27 saves in the final two periods.
"I thought Jonesy was our best player," DeBoer said. "I thought he was outstanding. Otherwise it could have been a 5-4 or 5-5 game."
Kane, who scored an NHL career high four goals against Calgary on March 16, scored a shorthanded goal at 8:26 of the second period to give San Jose a 3-1 lead.
Justin Braun scored from the right circle at 10:09 of the third period to make it 4-1, and Kane scored at 12:10 when Joe Pavelski tipped Dillon's shot and the puck deflected off Kane for the 5-1 final.

Goal of the game

Kane's goal at 8:26 of the second period.

Save of the game

Jones' save against Johnny Gaudreau with 33 seconds left in the second period.

Highlight of the game

Dillon's goal at 7:52 of the first period.

They said it

"It seems like we're leading the NHL in moral victories, but it's not getting us any points right now, and so it resulted in another loss where we actually had really good stretches during the game but ultimately no results." -- Flames forward Troy Brouwer
"I think this is the time of year you want to be playing well, you want to get hot. For me it's about our game. The results are nice, the wins are nice. Out of the seven games, this was probably the sloppiest of the seven, but we found a way to win. Our goaltender was great." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer

Need to know

Sharks forward Logan Couture missed the final 9:51 with an undisclosed injury. "He's dealing with a little something," DeBoer said. "We'll see how he is tomorrow." ... The Flames were without top-line center Sean Monahan, who was shut down for the season because of wrist and hip injuries and will have wrist surgery.

What's next

Flames: At the Los Angeles Kings on Monday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNW, NHL.TV)
Sharks: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)