File picture of Calgary Flames center Joe Colborne (top) in action.
MCT/San Jose
A goal by Calgary Flames forward Sean Monahan just 24 seconds into overtime sent the San Jose Sharks home with a 4-3 overtime loss, their first defeat in the last three games.
Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Melker Karlsson scored for San Jose in regulation while the Flames got their goals from Dennis Wideman, Joe Colborune and Juri Hudler.
The Sharks were facing something of an unknown in Calgary rookie netminder Joni Ortio, playing only his third NHL game of the season.
But the 23-year-old Finnish goalie had been impressive in the previous two games, road wins over the Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks that saw him stop 63 of the 64 shots he faced for a 0.50 goals against average and a .984 save percentage.
“With Joni we don’t have a lot of information on him, but we’ll look at the last few games,” McLellan said. “The players will have to crack that nut tonight. They won’t get a lot of help from us because there’s not a lot of evidence there yet.”
San Jose would eventually bring Ortio’s numbers back to earth, but it took awhile as the Flames quickly put the Sharks on their heels.
Wideman scored on the game’s first shot a mere 40 seconds into the first period when goalie Antti Niemi was at least partly screened on a 52-foot wrist shot from above the right faceoff circle.
The Sharks got their first power play of the game at 4:09 when Flames forward Juri Hudler went off for tripping Melker Karlsson, but things did not go as planned.
When a pass from Brent Burns handcuffed Joe Pavelski in the San Jose zone, Colbourne picked up the loose puck and deked his way around Burns before tucking the puck past Niemi for a short-handed goal at 5:59.
The Sharks did come close to scoring in the first period when Logan Couture hit a crossbar and Matt Nieto drove the net only to have his shot go wide, but overall it was a pretty uninspired 20 minutes of hockey for San Jose.
At that point McLellan began tinkering with his lines, moving Pavelski back alongside Thornton and Karlsson while returning Marleau to his more familiar spot with Logan Couture and Tommy Wingels.
That move and whatever McLellan may have said to his players between periods had the desired effect.
Just 12 seconds into the second period, Couture took a pass from Marleau and snapped off a 45-foot shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Ortio on the far side to make it a 2-1 game.
Then at 2:40 and with Calgary penalized for having too many men on the ice, Joe Thornton scooped up the rebound of a shot by Pavelski just to Ortio’s left and tied the game at 2-2.
Things settled down, but San Jose kept the pressure on before taking its first lead at the nine-minute mark when a cross-crease pass from Pavelski went across the goal line off Karlsson’s right skate. The play went to video review in Toronto, where they ruled that no distinct kicking motion was involved and the goal stood to make it 3-2.
That first San Jose lead didn’t last long. A dump-in by Flames center Mikael Backlund caromed off a San Jose skate right to Hudler who moved laterally from one faceoff circle to the other before beating Niemi through traffic to tie the game at 3-3 at 11:32.
The Sharks came close to breaking the tie when Couture sent Marleau in all alone on Ortio midway through the period, but the rookie netminder snapped the shot in his glove and the game remained even.
