SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Calgary Flames are leaving the speedy San Jose Sharks in their dust.

Marcus Nilson, Shean Donovan and Ville Nieminen each had a goal and an assist, and the Flames took control of the Western Conference finals with a 4-1 victory over the Sharks in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Nilson matched the fastest goal in Calgary's postseason history, scoring 20 seconds after the opening faceoff. Nieminen and captain Jarome Iginla clinched the win with third-period goals 44 seconds apart, sending the sixth-seeded Flames back home with an improbable 2-0 series lead over the Pacific Division champions.

Game 3 is Thursday night at the Saddledome, where the Flames are just 3-3 in the playoffs. But thanks to a 7-2 road record that includes three straight wins, they're halfway to their first Stanley Cup finals since 1989, when they won the franchise's only championship.

Miikka Kiprusoff followed his 49-save performance in the opener with just 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.

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

Evgeni Nabokov seemed as off-kilter as his teammates, making 16 saves as the Sharks lost in regulation for just 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. But Calgary has seized control of both games in the series, twice taking a 2-0 lead into the second period.

Still, the Flames' first goal was pure luck: Nilson's lazy wrist shot pinballed off a skate and past Nabokov. It was Nilson's first goal since his overtime winner against Detroit in the second-round opener.

Donovan, a former Sharks forward, added his fourth goal of the playoffs on a breakaway nine minutes later. It was made possible by a San Jose defensive lapse similar to the one that led to Steve Montador's overtime goal in the series opener.

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The Sharks briefly got going early in the second period when McCauley fired a shot just under the crossbar for his first goal of the postseason.

San Jose controlled play for most of the third period, but the Flames capitalized on two late defensive breakdowns for consecutive goals by Nieminen and Iginla, who scored on Nabokov for the first time in 13 games against the San Jose netminder.

Sharks captain Patrick Marleau went scoreless in his fifth straight game. He still leads with seven playoff goals, but has vanished into another one of the funks that have defined his career.

Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren was a last-minute scratch with an upper-body injury. San Jose used rookie defensemen Rob Davison and Tom Preissing in his place — and Davison picked up his first NHL playoff point with an assist on McCauley's goal.

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