(My Sportsbook) - San Jose welcomed former head coach Darryl Sutter back to the Shark Tank on Monday for the first time since he was dismissed back in early December.

The Sharks then went out and did something they did not do nearly often enough for their former coach in the early portion of the season and that is score goals and get solid play between the pipes.

Evgeni Nabokov made 32 saves and Teemu Selanne tallied twice, as the Sharks spoiled Sutter's return with a 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames at HP Pavilion. Matt Bradley, Owen Nolan and Vincent Damphousse also scored for the Sharks, who have won two straight after a three-game slide.

Sutter, who coached the defending Pacific Division champion Sharks to an 8-12-2-2 start to the season, was fired back on December 1 and took over in Calgary just 27 days later.

"The best part was seeing all the fans and their faces," Sutter said. "There's a closeness there. It was neat, because I have a lot of respect for the fans here. They're responsible for a lot of this team's success."

In five-plus seasons, Sutter posted a 192-182-60 regular season record and guided his team to five consecutive seasons of points improvement (2001-02, 99 points; 2000-01, 93 points; 1999-00, 87; 1998-99, 80; 1997-98, 78). Sutter also led the Sharks to a team-record five straight playoff berths.

"It's strange," San Jose's new coach Ron Wilson said, "because you feel like you're 15 years old and you've had a girlfriend and then she leaves you."

The Sharks built a 2-0 lead after two periods and extended the advantage to three at 6:16 of the third on Selanne's first goal of the game. He scored on a rebound at the right post after a rush by Nikolas Dimitrakos.

Damphousse made it 4-0 on a power play with 5:11 remaining, scoring his 18th of the season with a stuffer at the right post.

After Calgary spoiled Nabokov's shutout bid, Selanne scored again with 2:41 remaining on a breakaway, netting his 25th

The Sharks have also struggled since Wilson assumed his position behind the bench, as San Jose is currently 13th in the Western Conference playoff race with 57 points, 10 back of the Edmonton Oilers with 20 games left to play.

"We've narrowed the [playoff] gap to a paltry 10 points," Wilson said with a grin. "We'll just keep working on it. Hopefully, with the way Nabby is playing, and [since] we're starting to get goals from all four lines...you never know what can happen."

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San Jose will start a three-game road trip on Thursday in Vancouver. It will close the trek with stops in Calgary and Edmonton.