Tyler Toffoli and Dillon Dube set a franchise record for the fastest two goals to start a game and the Calgary Flames rebounded from a blown lead to claim a 7-3 win over the host San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
Toffoli finished with two goals in a three-point outing, and Nazem Kadri scored twice for Calgary. Dube and Milan Lucic both collected one goal and one assist, while Trevor Lewis scored. Elias Lindholm and Jonathan Huberdeau both collected three assists.
Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves for the Flames, who swept a two-game series in San Jose.
Timo Meier contributed a goal and an assist while Nico Sturm and Alexander Barabanov also scored for the Sharks. James Reimer stopped 32 shots for San Jose, which was without Tomas Hertl due to suspension.
The final score screams a one-sided game, but the Flames broke it open in the final 10 minutes. With the score tied 3-3, Kadri received a sublime pass from Lucic before lifting a top-shelf shot with 9:56 remaining in the game.
Lucic added an insurance marker with 3:17 remaining, his second goal of the season and second in as many games, before Toffoli scored an empty-net goal with 98 seconds left. Kadri added another goal 20 seconds later, his 13th of the season.
It was a weird finish to a wild game. Toffoli opened the scoring 15 seconds into the clash when Dube set him up for a tap-in tally to earn his 12th goal of the season.
Dube doubled the lead 15 seconds later with his seventh tally of the campaign, easily converting an open chance.
The goals broke the club’s previous mark for the fastest two goals to start a game of 32 seconds, set on March 11, 1987, against the Hartford Whalers. The tallies also tied for the fifth fastest pair of goals to start a game in NHL history.
The Sharks clawed back. First, Sturm put them on the board with 5:02 remaining in the first period. After Lewis restored Calgary’s two-goal edge just past the midway point of the second period, Barabanov tallied with 36.2 seconds remaining in the frame to make it a one-goal game.
Meier tied the clash four minutes into the third period with his 17th goal of the season and fifth in the past six games, but the Flames put down the hammer and roared to victory.
–Field Level Media
