Dustin Wolf made 34 saves as the Calgary Flames defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-1 at SAP Center on Thursday. The win marks Calgary’s third victory in their last four games, bringing their record to 24-27-6.
“We’ve put the work in the last 10 days or so,” Wolf said. “Anytime you can come into a building and get two points, that’s exactly what we are looking for.”
Nazem Kadri scored twice for Calgary, while Mikael Backlund and Connor Zary each contributed a goal and an assist. Calgary coach Ryan Huska commented on his team’s performance: “I thought we had a hard time with their speed in the first period. In the second period, we had some shifts where we started to get our game going a little bit better. Then a few timely goals too.”
For San Jose, Tyler Toffoli scored their only goal as the team dropped its fifth straight game (0-4-1), falling to a record of 27-25-4. Yaroslav Askarov made 25 saves for the Sharks.
San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky addressed his team’s approach: “Just play more on the inside. The way we scored the goal is the way we need to play.”
This matchup was both teams’ first game after returning from the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 break.
Toffoli opened scoring early in the second period by tipping Mario Ferraro’s point pass over Wolf’s glove from the slot. Kadri responded late in that period with a wrist shot off a saucer pass from Joel Farabee.
Zary gave Calgary its first lead at 5:22 of the third period after receiving a pass from Backlund and beating Askarov with a wrist shot from near the left face-off circle. “I just saw a quick transition. It was at the end of my shift, but I saw an odd-man rush and decided to jump in,” Zary said.
Kadri added his second goal midway through the third after Timothy Liljegren’s clearing attempt deflected off Zary, allowing Kadri to lift another wrist shot past Askarov. Liljegren reflected on his play: “Just overall a bad play. I was trying to make a quick play up the weak side, but I had time to skate the puck, and could have made a way better play.”
Backlund sealed Calgary’s win with an empty-net goal late in regulation.
Kadri extended his streak of multipoint games to three (three goals, three assists), matching his longest such run this season. Wolf improved his career record against San Jose to 10-2-0—his most wins against any NHL franchise. Flames forward Blake Coleman returned after missing 12 games due to injury and recorded three shots on goal during over fourteen minutes of ice time.
