Smith scores twice, but San Jose Sharks’ third period woes prove costly
SAN JOSE — San Jose Sharks goalie Georgi Romanov came within a few minutes of enjoying the most memorable night of his professional career on Monday, while also taking a big chunk out of the Calgary Flames’ playoff hopes.
Romanov made 19 saves in two periods, but the Sharks allowed third-period goals to Adam Klapka, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato in a 3-2 loss to the Flames before an announced crowd of 12,654 at SAP Center.
Leading 1-0 on a Will Smith first-period goal, the Sharks allowed a 2-on-1 to Calgary as forward Nazem Kadri came in with Klapka after Timothy Liljegren could not keep the puck in the Flames’ zone. After a Kadri shot on goal, Klapka crashed the net and beat Romanov for his fourth goal of the season at the 8:12 mark.
Morgan Frost added a power-play goal at the 11:00 mark of the third to give the Flames the lead after Lucas Carlsson was called for holding, and Coronato made it 3-1 Flames, scoring the game-winner after he stole the puck from Alexander Wennberg and beat Romanov for his 22nd goal.
Smith added another goal with 1:59 left in regulation, and Romanov made 29 saves, but the Sharks lost their sixth straight game and finished their homestand with a 0-3-0 record. They will begin a four-game road trip on Wednesday against the Minnesota Wild.
Romanov is now 0-4-0 in six games with the Sharks this season.
The Flames entered Monday with 85 points, six points back of the Minnesota Wild for the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Calgary had two games in hand on Minnesota and will play the Wild at home on Friday, but it still has almost no margin for error if it wants to make the playoffs. It desperately needed to beat the 32nd-place Sharks.
San Jose, though, was largely the better team in the first period, outshooting Calgary 18-8. Smith’s goal, his 15th of the season, came with 24 seconds left before intermission and right after a forecheck by Macklin Celebrini.
Celebrini gained control of the puck behind the Flames’ net and got it over to Nikolai Kovalenko, who found Smith open.
Leading goal scorer Tyler Toffoli missed Monday’s game with a lower body injury and he is considered day-to-day, Warsofsky said. Like Rutta and Desharnais, Toffoli also will likely travel with the team to start the road trip.
Warsofsky said Toffoli has been dealing with the injury since the days following the 4 Nations Face Off break in late February. Toffoli has a team-high 28 goals this season and is third on the Sharks with 50 points.
Kovalenko, a healthy scratch for the last six games before Monday, took Toffoli’s spot in the lineup.
SAD PASSING: The NHL Alumni Association announced Monday afternoon that longtime former NHL goalie and broadcaster Greg Millen had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Millen, 67, became a broadcaster shortly after his 14-year NHL career ended in 1992, and he had been a color analyst on Flames telecasts on Rogers Sportsnet in recent years.
Out of respect for Millen, Sportsnet did not have its broadcasters, Jon Abbott and former Sharks goalie Kelly Hrudey, call the game. Instead, Sportsnet took the Sharks’ broadcast for Monday’s game.
MUKHAMADULLIN DONE: Shakir Mukhamadullin is out for the season with an upper-body injury he sustained in last Tuesday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks.
Mukhamadullin, 23, spent the ensuing days being evaluated by doctors, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said, to determine the severity of the injury. Warsofsky would not say what the injury is and could not confirm whether it would require surgery.
The last-place Sharks, officially eliminated from playoff contention last month, only have five games remaining. They will play their last game on April 16 at home against the Edmonton Oilers.
The injury will also keep Mukhamadullin from competing in the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs.
INJURY UPDATES: Injured defensemen Vincent Desharnais (upper body), Jimmy Schuldt (lower body) and Jan Rutta (lower body) all skated again Monday. Schuldt was returned to the Barracuda, but Warsofsky said both Desharnais and Rutta will travel with the Sharks on their four-game road trip and could be options to play at some point.
MUSTY ARRIVES: Forward Quentin Musty, one of the Sharks’ two first-round draft picks in 2023, is expected to begin practicing with the Barracuda on Tuesday. Musty, 19, just finished his fourth and likely final season of junior hockey last week, as he and the Sudbury Wolves were swept in their best-of-7 series against the Kingston Frontenacs in the opening round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.
Musty had four points in three playoff games after he had 59 points in 33 regular-season games with the Wolves. In 189 regular-season games with Sudbury over four seasons, Musty had 270 points, including a 102-point season in 2023-24.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Musty was selected 26th overall by the Sharks at the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville and was signed to a three-year entry-level contract in October of that year.