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SAN JOSE — It’s a date: the Sharks will play the Vegas Golden Knights in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A day after the Sharks secured home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, they allowed the Calgary Flames to clinch the top seed in the Western Conference by losing 5-3 in a head-to-head matchup with their Pacific Division rivals at SAP Center on Sunday.
After losing eight of their last nine games, the Sharks are now locked into second place in the Pacific Division with three games left on the schedule, setting up a rematch of last year’s second-round series with the Golden Knights.
“It’s going to be a fun challenge,” Timo Meier said. “We definitely feel there’s a rivalry between the two teams. It’s going to a hard one. It’s going to take a lot (from) us, we’ve got to bring our A-game.”
The Flames showed off their quick-strike offense in the first, scoring three goals in a span of 1:15 to take a 3-1 lead after the Sharks controlled possession throughout much of the game’s first three periods.
Sean Monahan scored the Flames first goal at 14:58, punching in a pass that Johnny Gaudreau slipped through Justin Braun’s legs after the Sharks turned the puck over along the boards. Mark Jankowski added a second goal just 31 seconds later, batting in a loose puck from the slot.
Dalton Prout capped off the Flames goal rush just 44 seconds after Jankowski’s goal, sneaking behind Marc-Edouard Vlasic to bury a pass from Andrew Mangiapane on a rush play.
Meier opened the scoring at 12:01, firing the puck into the top-left corner from the right circle to record the first 30-goal season of his three-year career. Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi recorded assists on the goal.
“It’s a good year for Timo. He’s taken a big step,” head coach Pete DeBoer said.
By the second period, the Sharks looked spent, lacking energy after they emptied their tanks in an emotional-overtime win over Vegas on Saturday that ended their season-high seven-game losing streak. The Flames out-shot the Sharks 20-4 in a span of 27:59 that started with Meier’s goal and stretched into the second intermission. The Sharks finished the game with a season-low 15 shots on goal.
“You’re coming off an emotional game, back-to-back and we’re banged up,” DeBoer said. “A bunch of that went into it. It’s not an excuse.”
The Flames eventually made it 4-1 at 7:27 of the middle frame when Joakim Ryan scored into his own net by tapping in a puck that Mikael Backlund redirected into the crease.
Couture scored the Sharks second goal at 5:23 of the third, knocking in a pass from Meier off the rush. Tomas Hertl picked up the secondary assist, his sixth point in four games. Kevin Labanc added one more at 17:37 of the third with help from Tim Heed and Joakim Ryan.
Michael Frolik scored the Flames fifth goal at 8:25 of the third. Aaron Dell coughed up five goals on 28 shots, struggling to keep the Sharks in the game as he faced a barrage of quality chances from the Flames high octane offense.
The Sharks will return to action on Tuesday, opening up a two-game road trip to Western Canada with a bout against the Vancouver Canucks.
— Joe Thornton received a $2,500 fine from the NHL Department of Player Safety on Sunday for jabbing Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves in the throat with his stick during a line brawl on Saturday. Reaves received a fine of the same amount for whacking Thornton in the head with his stick earlier in the scrum.
— Melker Karlsson and Lukas Radil missed their second straight games with lower-body injuries on Sunday. Head coach Pete DeBoer said he expects both players’ absences to be “short term.” Joe Pavelski sat out his seventh straight game with a lower-body injury, as well.
— DeBoer said that Erik Karlsson is an option to travel on the Sharks upcoming two-game road trip to Canada. Karlsson has been sidelined for 15 straight games with a groin ailment.
