SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Teenager Matthew Thackuk certainly is ready for the NHL.

The 18-year-old Calgary left winger scored his second goal of the night late in the third period to give the Flames a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

Tkachuk beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones with a sweet move to the backhand when left all alone in front at 15:39. Tkachuk scored his third career goal on only Calgary's third shot of the period.

"I went to bed pretty late last night not expecting I was playing," said Tkachuk, who appeared in his 10th NHL game, chopping a year off his entry-level contract status. "(I) woke up not really expecting I was playing. I got the news I was playing and got fired up pretty quickly. I was running on adrenaline tonight, that's for sure."

Tkachuk didn't think he was playing because he wasn't informed until Thursday he was not going to be returned to the junior ranks, which would have given Calgary an additional year of control over the young scorer.

Instead, the Flames decided he could help the big club right now.

"A couple guys chirped the coaches and said we should have told him awhile back," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said.

On the game-winner, the Flames (5-6-1) entered on an odd-man break, and winger Michael Frolik sent a perfect cross-ice feed from the right boards to Tkachuk. Sharks defenseman Brent Burns committed toward Frolik, and Tkachuk was left all alone.

"Second one (was) an unbelievable pass from Fro," Tkachuk said. "Made my job pretty easy."

The Sharks, who won their first four games at SAP Center, were unable to tie it with Jones pulled for an extra attacker for the final 90 seconds.

"Right now we're a goal short, a shot short," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. "That's on everybody. It doesn't just come at the end of the night or on the third shot of the third period. It comes throughout the whole game, and there's stretches where we do and stretches where we don't."

Troy Brouwer also scored for Calgary, which got 26 saves from goalie Chad Johnson. Jones finished with 19 saves.

"From my standpoint, I wouldn't say it was an easy game, but it was a lot better than my last one," Johnson said. "We took away the middle and there weren't many breakaways or two-on-ones or three-on-twos."

San Jose (6-5-0) rallied for two goals before the midway point of the final period to tie it 2-2.

Burns scored his fourth of the season with a straight-on blast from the blue line that beat Johnson, who was partially screened by Sharks center Joe Thornton just 35 seconds into the third period.

San Jose tied it on an even-strength tally by right winger Melker Karlsson. He redirected a shot from the left point by defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic for his second of the season at 9:18. Vlasic was set up on an offensive-zone faceoff won by Chris Tierney.

"It takes a lot of work from everybody. There are no shortcuts to where you want to go," Pavelski said. "We started to establish that in the third. We got that power-play goal early. You could feel the energy building in the (Shark) Tank. Got another one to tie it up, and we had the momentum where we expected to win the game there."

Calgary broke a scoreless tie by connecting for a pair of even-strength strikes just 1:33 apart late in the second period.

First it was Brouwer scoring his fourth of the season at 16:32 with a shot from the bottom of the right circle that beat Jones. Flames forward Micheal Ferland skated below the goal line and left a back pass for Brouwer, who had a step on Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon.

Then it was Tkachuk, playing in his 10th game, collecting his second career goal at 18:05. He took a drop pass from Deryk Engelland and filled Jones' 5-hole with a shot from the right circle. Jones may have been partially screened by Vlasic, who was getting push back by Engelland.

"Any time you lose, it's tough," Burns said. "We didn't play our best game, far from it."

NOTES: The Sharks became the last Western Conference team to lose a home game. ... The Sharks went with No. 1 goalie Martin Jones for a seventh straight game while the Flames decided on backup Chad Johnson after starter Brian Elliott played five straight. ... Calgary's four-game road trip continues with stop No. 3 on Saturday in Los Angeles. ... San Jose next hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday in a rematch of last spring's Stanley Cup Final. ... LW Matt Nieto and D Dylan DeMelo were San Jose's healthy scratches. D Dennis Wideman, D Nicklas Grossmann and C Freddie Hamilton did not dress for Calgary.