Flames Prove Too Hot for the Sharks

CALGARY, Canada — The pandemonium began while the puck was sliding uncontested toward the tranquillity of San Jose’s unguarded net.

As the puck crossed the goal line and time expired, the Calgary Flames and their fans were too ecstatic to notice.

The Flames had advanced to their first Stanley Cup final in 15 years with a 3-1 victory over San Jose in Game 6 of the Western Conference final.

Captain Jarome Iginla scored his 10th playoff goal, and Miikka Kiprusoff made 18 saves for the Flames, whose victory was the first by a home team in the series.

Calgary missed the playoffs the previous seven seasons before a young roster, a new coach and an otherworldly goalie put together the improbable playoff run.

“You never know when this opportunity is going to come again in your life,” said Iginla, who leads the playoffs with 17 points. “You’d like to think it’s going to happen every year.... but we know that’s not the case. You have to grab it when it comes.”

The Sharks pulled goalie Evgeni Nabokov in the final minute of a relentless third-period attack, but the Flames’ Robyn Regehr was credited with a goal with one second left after San Jose’s Alex Korolyuk attempted to pass the puck from behind the Calgary net.

It went the length of the ice, settling into the net while the Flames threw their sticks and gloves in the air.

Martin Gelinas, twice an overtime hero in series-clinching games, also scored for the Flames, who will open their fourth consecutive playoff series on the road Tuesday, either at Tampa Bay or Philadelphia.

Gelinas got the eventual winning goal in the second period.

“[Overtime goals] are too hard on my heart,” he said. “It was good to get it out of the way early.... When we started the season, we knew we had a gritty team that worked hard, and our goal was to make the playoffs. To say that we were going to get the Stanley Cup, that’s hard to believe.”

Calgary hasn’t been in the NHL’s final round since winning the Stanley Cup in 1989 -- and the Canadian anthem will be sung in the finals for the first time since Vancouver made it in 1994. A Canadian team hasn’t won the Cup since Montreal’s victory in 1993.

The party spilled out into the streets in Calgary, where thousands of fans honked horns, waved banners and turned the popular 17th Avenue entertainment district into a parking lot.

Alyn McCauley scored for San Jose, but the best season in franchise history ended with back-to-back losses in the Sharks’ first appearance in the conference finals. San Jose also lost its final four home games of the playoffs, running out of energy and focus despite its 104-point regular season and home-ice advantage in every round.

“We just didn’t have good luck this time,” center Vincent Damphousse said. “We’ve got a lot of breaks in the playoffs, but I guess our luck just ran out.”

Nabokov made 27 saves but lost again to Kiprusoff, his former backup. Kiprusoff arrived in Calgary in a trade in November, and the Flames haven’t been the same -- they’ve been good enough to roar past every Western team with a low-budget roster and an impeccable work ethic.

“You never pictured this in your wildest dreams,” said Craig Conroy, whose steal of a second-period faceoff set up Gelinas’ goal. “Everything about this season has just been too good to be true.”