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Phaneuf, Flames end Sharks' invincibility at home

Jan 16, 2009 - 7:19 AM By Michael Duca PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Defenseman Dion Phaneuf picked a perfect time to end his long goalless drought.

Phaneuf scored for the first time in 26 games late in the third period as the Calgary Flames handed the San Jose Sharks their first regular-season regulation loss at home in over 11 months with a 3-2 victory Thursday.

"To be honest with you, it was a big win for our team," Phaneuf said. "It definitely felt good to get that one, it was a battle. They played hard, we played hard, and it was the tight-checking game we expected from them.

"It definitely feels good to get the goal, but I'm not going to change the way I've played all year."

Daymond Langkow recorded a goal and an assist, Craig Conroy also tallied and Miikka Kiprusoff made 33 saves for the Flames, who have won four in a row.

Ryane Clowe and All-Star Joe Thornton scored and blue-liner Dan Boyle notched two assists for the Sharks, who were 20-0-2 at the HP Pavilion this season and left the arena without a point for the first time since February 14.

"To be honest with you, I thought it was a great hockey game," Thornton said. "Obviously, we lost, but it was exciting. It was a playoff-type atmosphere. It was bound to happen. Both teams played great. Who knows, we'll probably meet each other in the postseason as well."

"The effort, when you compare it to what we had in Calgary nine days ago, was much better," Sharks coach Todd McLellan added. "I thought it was a very competitive, hard-fought game tonight. Obviously, we didn't have enough at the end to win it, but we did have our share of chances and it just didn't go our way."

With the game knotted at 2-2, the Sharks failed to clear the puck from their zone and Langkow's pass from behind the net found Phaneuf in the left faceoff circle. Phaneuf's one-timer deflected off the stick of a defender and squeezed between All-Star netminder Evgeni Nabokov's skate and the goalpost with 3:57 to play.

"I just came in off the point on the right side and Langkow made a great play, feeding me coming down," Phaneuf said. "I shot it and it snuck through."

The Sharks opened the scoring exactly one minute into the contest as Boyle skated into the offensive zone and got the puck behind the Flames' defense. The All-Star then dug it out of the corner and centered it to Clowe, who flipped a shot past Kiprusoff for his 19th goal.

Clowe already has matched his career high with 34 points this season.

"We knew they would be ready, we knew they would come hard early in this building," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "It was character-building for us to come back from that quick score."

The Flames tied the game at 2:02 of the second period. Off a scramble in front of the net, Conroy poked in a rebound for his sixth tally of the campaign.

Thornton gave the Sharks a 2-1 edge at 6:57 of the middle session. After picking up the puck along the boards and skating to the hash marks, he made a hard left turn and swept across the slot before putting a wrist shot between Kiprusoff's pads.

With San Jose defenseman Christian Ehrhoff in the penalty box for holding, Calgary tied the contest off a faceoff at 9:35 of the second. Iginla won the draw to Mike Cammalleri, whose shot from the slot was deflected over Nabokov's glove by Langkow.

"We stayed tenacious," Flames coach Mike Keenan said. "Special teams were really important. We were able to kill a 5-on-3 penalty off and score a power-play goal, which - in the end - made the difference."