Music: {allcanada} Flames beat Sharks on Monahan's OT winner

Saturday, January 17, 2015

{allcanada} Flames beat Sharks on Monahan's OT winner

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SAN JOSE -- Sean Monahan scored 24 seconds into overtime to give the Calgary Flames a 4-3 victory against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

Monahan won an offensive-zone faceoff, then went toward the net and buried the carom of defenseman Mark Giordano's backhander, which hit San Jose defenseman Justin Braun, for his 13th goal of the season.

Dennis Wideman, Joe Colborne and Jiri Hudler also scored for Calgary (24-18-3), which has won the first three games of a five-game road trip.

Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Melker Karlsson scored for the Sharks (24-16-6), and Antti Niemi made 18 saves.

Calgary rookie goaltender Joni Ortio, making his third straight start since being recalled from Adirondack of the American Hockey League, made 20 saves for his third straight win. Ortio gave up one goal in his first two starts, including a 1-0 shutout of the Vancouver Canucks in his season debut.

The Flames jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Sharks scored three times in the first nine minutes of the second period, and the teams entered the final period tied 3-3.

Ortio settled down after the Sharks' second-period flurry and made a handful of stellar saves in a scoreless third.

The Sharks are known for getting off to fast starts at home, but Wideman put Calgary ahead 40 seconds into the game when his slap shot from the blue line got past Niemi, who was screened by Calgary's Markus Granlund. It was Wideman's 11th goal of the season, and it ended a 17-game goalless streak.

Colborne made it 2-0 at 4:59 with a shorthanded goal, taking advantage of a Sharks giveaway in the neutral zone. Sharks defenseman Brent Burns fired a pass from deep in his own along the right boards to Joe Pavelski, but Pavelski couldn't control the puck. Colborne grabbed the loose puck and sent it ahead to Matt Stajan, then took a return pass and beat Niemi with a wrist shot after a slick move in the slot.

The Flames outshot San Jose 11-4 in the first period, and Ortio was rarely tested. The closest San Jose came to scoring was when Couture ripped a shot from the left circle that clanked off the far post midway through the period.

The Sharks roared back to score three goals before the midway point of the second period to take a 3-2 lead

Couture scored 12 seconds after the opening faceoff, ripping an unscreened shot from the left circle that beat Ortio to the far side.

The Sharks pulled even at 2:40 when Thornton buried a power-play rebound after Ortio stopped Pavelski's shot from the low slot. The goal was Thornton's 10th of the season, one fewer than he scored in all of 2013-14.

Karlsson gave San Jose a 3-2 lead at 9:00 of the second with his seventh goal of the season and sixth in his past eight games. Pavelski sent a pass through the crease that deflected off Karlsson's right skate. It was ruled a goal on the ice and the call was confirmed after a video review that determined Karlsson did not use a distinct kicking motion.

Calgary tied it 3-3 at 11;32 on Hudler's 14th goal of the season. He tracked down the puck after a blocked shot and wristed a shot past Niemi.

The Sharks outshot Calgary 10-6 in the second period.