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CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Fred Brathwaite's effort gave the Calgary Flames a little more life in the Western Conference playoff race.
Brathwaite was spectacular in making 29 saves and the Flames earned a much-needed victory, beating the San Jose Sharks 3-0 Saturday night.
|  | | Calgary rookie Sergei Varlamov looks for a deflection in front of San Jose goalie Steve Shields. |
Brathwaite tied the franchise record for most shutouts in a season, matching Dan Bouchard (1973-74) and Phil Myre (1974-75).
"Freddie was definitely the difference in the game, some of the saves he made were unbelievable," said Flames left-wing Bill Lindsay, who opened the scoring with his eighth goal, 23 seconds into the game. "Goaltending like that gives your penalty killing confidence and gives your whole team confidence, no doubt about it."
Calgary snapped a five-game home losing streak.
Vincent Damphousse, Jeff Friesen and Todd Harvey were among the Sharks thwarted on acrobatic saves by Brathwaite, who collected his fifth shutout of the season.
"It helps when you're a little bit busier because you don't have a chance to think too much because the play's going on all the time," said Brathwaite, who gave up two goals on 11 shots in Friday night's loss to Phoenix.
"Last night, I would stand there waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and then they would come down and get a good chance and score," he said.
Jarome Iginla and rookie Sergei Varlamov also scored for the Flames, who in 11th place are five points behind the eighth-place Sharks. Each team has four games remaining.
The Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Vancouver Canucks are tied for ninth in the conference, three points behind San Jose.
"This is the third time we've had chances to put teams away that are behind us and we haven't done it," said Friesen.
Noticeably absent from the Sharks' lineup for the first time this season was captain Owen Nolan, out with a slight shoulder injury sustained Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings.
Without Nolan, second in the NHL with 44 goals and first in the league in power-play goals with 18, the Sharks' power-play suffered, going 0-for-6.
"Freddie played good but we didn't pour it on enough," Friesen said. "We should have gone at them every shift instead of just here and there."
Calgary plays at Dallas on Monday and St. Louis on Wednesday before finishing the season at home against Colorado on Friday and Edmonton on Saturday.
San Jose continued to struggle on the road. The Sharks take a five game winless streak into Edmonton on Monday night.
"We've got to be ready to throw it all on the line against Edmonton. We can't just go in spurts," Friesen said. ""We've got ourselves in a situation where we've got to win now."
The Flames took a 1-0 when Martin St. Louis pounced on a San Jose turnover and fed Lindsay, who deflected the puck past goalie Steve Shields from the top of the crease.
Calgary made it 2-0 at 9:17 of the first when Shields was beaten from a bad angle by Iginla after he was set up by Valeri Bure.
The Flames made it 3-0 at 6:57 of the second on Varlamov's second goal in three games since joining Calgary last Saturday from Saint John of the American Hockey League.
Sergei Krivokrasov's centering pass found Varalamov alone in the low slot and the rookie paused briefly before ripping a shot over Shields and in off the crossbar.
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NHL Scoreboard
San Jose Clubhouse
Calgary Clubhouse
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Philadelphia 3
Pittsburgh 2
Detroit 0
St. Louis 0
NY Rangers 2
Boston 2
Chicago 2
NY Islanders 2
Los Angeles 2
Anaheim 1
Buffalo 2
Montreal 0
Toronto 4
Washington 3
Tampa Bay 3
Florida 3
Calgary 3
San Jose 0
Edmonton 4
Phoenix 3
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