Toffoli scores twice, Flames top Sharks to gain in West wild card race

CALGARY -- Tyler Toffoli scored twice for the Calgary Flames in a 5-3 win against the San Jose Sharks Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

Toffoli has scored 31 goals this season, which ties his NHL career high he previously set with the Los Angeles Kings in 2015-16.
"I'm very fortunate," Toffoli said. "Obviously, it hasn't gone the way as a group we've wanted to. It's a little unfortunate, but at the same time, we're still kind of in it and trying to win games."

Walker Duehr had a goal and an assist, and Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar also scored for the Flames (33-26-15), who have won two of three. Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves.
Calgary moved four points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"Ideally you want to find yourself to not be in this position this late in the season, but it's hard to win in months like these leading up to the playoffs," Kadri said. "We're giving ourselves a chance, so that's all that matters at this point."
Logan Couture and Nico Sturm scored, and Erik Karlsson had two assists for the Sharks (19-39-15), who have lost nine in a row (0-6-3) and 14 of 15 (1-10-4). Kaapo Kahkonen made 25 saves.
"Losing [stinks]," Couture said. "I feel like I've said that too many times this season. I thought tonight was one of our better efforts. We're realistic in here. We know where we're at.
"We lost a bunch of guys at the [trade] deadline. We moved out six or seven of our full-time players. I liked our compete. We fought to the end. We can be proud of that."

Kadri put the Flames ahead 4-3 at 5:45 of the third period, swatting in a loose puck in the crease after Kahkonen made the initial save on Duehr. Kadri has scored in consecutive games following a 16-game goal drought.
"Just timely goals," Kadri said. "Catch a break. We earned that and we stayed competitive, stayed in it instead of getting frustrated, and it pays off. Times like that throughout the course of the season are going to happen."
Markstrom kept it a one-goal game at 10:18 when he made an arm save on Andrew Agozzino's shot from the slot. He then made a pad stop when Agozzino attempted to go five-hole with a backhand 18 seconds later.
"I think we created some chances," Karlsson said. "'Marky' played good in net for them and made some keys stops at the right time. This was one of our better games in a while. Hopefully we can continue it."

Toffoli scored his second goal into an empty net at 18:50 for the 5-3 final.
"I thought we did a good job sticking together and found a way to win," Toffoli said.
Weegar put Calgary in front 1-0 at 4:09 of the first period with a shot through traffic over Kahkonen's blocker.
Toffoli made it 2-0 at 7:13, scoring with a one-timer off a spinning cross-slot pass from Elias Lindholm on a rush.
Couture cut it to 2-1 at 14:21 when he crashed the net to tap in a pass through the crease from Karlsson.
Sturm tied it 2-2 at 4:52 of the second period, redirecting a centering pass from Noah Gregor past Markstrom's glove. Karlsson picked up his 68th assist of the season, passing Brent Burns for the most by a defenseman in Sharks history.
"Tremendous," Couture said of Karlsson. "I really hope he can get 100 [points], I think that'd mean a lot to him. It'd mean a lot to every guy in this room. He's had an incredible year. It's been fun to be a part of his year he's having. It'd be a highlight to finish the year."

Martin Kaut gave San Jose a 3-2 lead 22 seconds later at 5:14, but Duehr tied it 3-3 at 5:39 with a one-timer off a backdoor pass from Trevor Lewis.
"We fought," Couture said. "Kept it close for a while. I thought we were the better team for the second half the first period. Power play kind of let us down there. It would've been nice to get one at the end to tie that one up.
"Pretty close game overall. We had enough legs to definitely score a fourth one. It's tough. It's tough losing right now."

NOTES: Toffoli has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past six games. ... Calgary forward Mikael Backlund was plus-1 in 20:23 of ice time in his 900th NHL game. He is the third player to play in at least 900 games with the Flames, joining Jarome Iginla (1,219) and Mark Giordano (949). ... Karlsson, who leads defensemen in scoring this season, has NHL career highs in goals (22), assists (68) and points (90). ... San Jose signed defenseman Henry Thrun to a two-year, entry-level contract earlier Saturday. He will immediately join the Sharks' roster.