Flames force Game 7 with win over Sharks
Miika Kiprusoff made 21 saves, Owen Nolan and Daymond Langkow scored, and the Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks 2-0 on Sunday night at Calgary, Alberta, to force a Game 7.
The decisive match Tuesday night will be the first Game 7 the Sharks have hosted in franchise history after playing five on the road.
Facing elimination in front of raucous home crowd that braved freezing temperatures and snow to get to the Pengrowth Saddledome, the Flames checked San Jose relentlessly along the boards. Kiprusoff was outstanding during the stretches his team’s scoring chances dried up and the Sharks were pressing.
Calgary held San Jose scoreless on three power-play chances and went 0 for 2 with a man advantage.
Nolan, a former Sharks star, opened the scoring midway through the first period and Langkow made it 2-0 with 57 seconds left in the second.
Langkow took two strides from the boards and beat Evgeni Nabokov with a low wrist shot stick side for his third of the postseason.
Nabokov made 23 saves.
The Sharks mustered some sustained pressure in Calgary’s zone after two scoreless power plays in the second period, but botched a 3-on-1 opportunity with just more than 3 minutes to go.
Milan Michalek hung onto the puck too long and didn’t get a clean shot away. The Sharks’ No. 2 scorer during the regular season remained pointless in the series.
Kiprusoff’s pad save on Ryane Clowe from close range late in the second and a quick glove on Joe Thornton’s through traffic during a Sharks power play early in the second period helped preserve Calgary’s lead heading into the third.
Calgary carried the play off the opening faceoff. The Flames outhit the Sharks 13-4 and won almost 70 percent of the faceoffs in the first period. They also outshot San Jose 5-1 in the first 5 minutes.
A couple of big shifts and hard grunt work behind San Jose’s net midway through the opening period set the table for the Flames’ first goal.
Kristian Huselius reclaimed the puck that was getting away from him with deft stick work and got a backhand shot away. Nolan corralled the rebound and scored low stick side on Nabokov at 11:33 for his second of the series.
Red Wings 3, Predators 0: At Nashville, Tenn., Detroit can take a couple of days to rest up. The NHL’s best team in the regular season won’t miss the Western Conference semifinals this year.
Nicklas Lidstrom and Jiri Hudler each scored, and the Red Wings closed out their opening series by beating the Predators in Game 6.
Brian Rafalski added an empty-netter with 4.8 seconds left. Goalie Chris Osgood stopped 20 shots for the shutout in his second straight playoff start as top-seeded Detroit became the first road team to win in this series.
With the victory, Detroit passed Toronto for second on the list of playoff series won with its 59th.
Stars 4, Ducks 1: At Dallas, Stephane Robidas scored the tying goal on the power play early in the third period then set up Stu Barnes for the go-ahead goal 52 seconds later, sending the Stars past Anaheim to end their first-round series in six games.
The Ducks are the fifth straight defending Stanley Cup champions to fail to make the second round. The NHL hasn’t had a repeat winner since Detroit in 1997-98. No champion has taken a trip to the finals since the Stars in 2000.