Flames Start Fast, Win

SAN JOSE — Marcus Nilson’s shot would have made a pinball wizard proud.

The shot hit Scott Hannan’s leg, ricocheted off Jason Marshall’s skate and caromed into the San Jose Sharks’ net only 20 seconds after the opening faceoff.

The goal tilted the Western Conference finals toward the Calgary Flames. They followed that bit of pure luck with another showcase of tremendous skill -- and now they’re halfway to their first Stanley Cup finals in 15 years.

Linemates Nilson, Shean Donovan and Ville Nieminen each had a goal and an assist, and the Flames remained kings of the playoff road with a 4-1 victory over the Sharks in Game 2 Tuesday night.

Nilson matched the fastest goal in Calgary’s postseason history, but the resulting blow to the Sharks’ psyche was even more important. The accidental goal put San Jose in a hole that it never escaped.

“It’s tough to come back from something like that,” Nilson said. “But we did the hard work to back it up too. We earned the win.”

Donovan scored 10 minutes after Nilson’s goal, and Nieminen and captain Jarome Iginla clinched the victory with third-period goals 44 seconds apart. That sent the sixth-seeded Flames back home with an improbable 2-0 series lead over the Pacific Division champions.

“We’d be lying if we said this is what we expected, but it’s a tremendous bonus,” center Craig Conroy said. “This is definitely the most special season I’ve had, and it just seems like anything can happen now.”

Game 3 is Thursday night at the Saddledome, where the Flames are only 3-3 in the playoffs. But thanks to a 7-2 road record that includes three consecutive wins, they have a great shot at their first Cup finals since 1989, when they won the franchise’s only championship.

Miikka Kiprusoff followed his 49-save performance in the opener with only 17 saves, including a handful of fine stops in the final minutes. With a fast start, puck possession and relentless forechecking -- three of San Jose’s hallmarks -- Calgary shocked the sold-out Shark Tank into silence.

“I know from being on the other side of it, you get scored on in the first minute, it’s hard,” Calgary Coach Darryl Sutter said. “Then you get another one, and it’s not that far removed from where they were down 2-0 in Game 1. It trickles back in.”

Alyn McCauley scored for the Sharks, who lost consecutive games for only the second time since early March. After starting the playoffs with seven victories in eight games, San Jose has lost four of its last five, including three in a row at home. Its first trip to the conference finals has been humiliating so far.

“We’ve dug a heck of a hole for ourselves, but it’s not impossible to get out,” said Shark Coach Ron Wilson, who will consider lineup changes for Game 3. “We have to recapture the style of play that made us successful in the first two rounds.”

Evgeni Nabokov seemed as off-kilter as his teammates, making 16 saves as the Sharks lost in regulation for only the second time in the playoffs.

The Flames scored two goals on their first three shots, immediately putting the Sharks on their heels. San Jose was the NHL’s fastest-starting team in the regular season, leading the league in first-period goal differential.

“We didn’t do a lot of things we usually do, and they were ready to play,” San Jose defenseman Brad Stuart said. “We’ve chosen to make it tough on ourselves. We have to get back into it the hard way.”

Donovan, a former Shark, got his fourth goal of the playoffs on a breakaway.

San Jose controlled most of the third period, but the Flames capitalized on two late defensive breakdowns for goals by Nieminen and Iginla, who scored on Nabokov for the first time in 14 games against the San Jose goalie.