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Calgary Nigel Dawes, left, scores on San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov on Friday. (Larry MacDougal/Canadian Press)

The Calgary Flames started strong but had to hang on late Friday as they eked out a 4-3 win over the reeling San Jose Sharks at the Saddledome.

Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow scored for the Flames in the first, before San Jose’s Dany Heatley cut the lead in half nearly three minutes into the second period.

But shortly after that, Calgary scored two goals in two minutes to give the team a three-goal lead, as Nigel Dawes and Eric Nystrom found the twine.

It looked like the Flames were free and clear, but Manny Malhotra would get the Sharks back in the game after he scored with eight minutes left in the game. With San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov on the bench Dan Boyle made it 4-3 with 1:41 left.

Mark Giordano had a solid game for Calgary, going plus-four for the night.

The reeling Sharks have lost five straight, and are now in a dogfight for the Western Conference title with Chicago. Both teams are tied on points with 96.

After dropping two tough games to Detroit and Vancouver, the Flames have now won two in a row, and temporarily went past the Red Wings into eighth and final playoff spot in the West. Detroit is currently in the final minutes of its game against Edmonton.

Calgary got a measure of revenge against San Jose, as they were embarrassed by the Sharks to the tune of 9-1 in the pair’s last meeting on Jan. 18.

Iginla scored at 3:24 of the first, as Calgary’s top line awoke from its scoring slumber to notch the opening goal. Matt Stajan picked up his own rebound and pass the puck across the slot to the waiting Flames captain, and he place it into the open net for his 32nd of the season.

Langkow made it 2-0 after at 8:52 Calgary capitalized on a San Jose turnover in the Sharks’ end.

Calgary was out-shot 14-6 in the first, partly due to the Flames taking a couple penalties in the latter half of the frame, but Miikka Kiprusoff had another characteristic strong start and turned away everything San Jose threw at them.

The Sharks brought one back when Canadian Olympians Heatley and Joe Thornton linked up at 2:41 of the second. Thornton found Heatley in the slot and he fired one of his patented one-timers past Kiprusoff.

But soon after that, two goals in two minutes would give Calgary a three-goal lead.

Dawes scored the Flames third goal at 9:04, capitalizing off a rebound from Nabokov for his 11th of the season. Nystrom place away another rebound from Nabokov at 11:03 to make the score 4-1.

Mikael Backlund and Jamal Mayers helped on both goals.

Nabokov gave up four goals on the first 13 shots he faced.

The Flames captain brought the Saddledome crowd to its feet again at the end of the second period. Iginla dropped the gloves and had a spirited tussle with Ryane Clowe.

San Jose’s Malhotra got a gift at 12:01 of the third, when Backlund tried to get Kiprusoff to freeze the puck. Instead, it went right underneath the Flames goaltender and to Malhotra, who potted one for his 12th of the season.

Boyle scored at 18:09 of the third as the Flames were scrambling to defend the lead as the Sharks had the extra attacker on the ice. He one-timed a pass from Logan Couture for his 13th of the season.

Cape Breton Capers’ Lasario Burrows, left, attempts to block University of Calgary Dinos’ Ross Bekkering in Friday’s quarter-final in Ottawa. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Fifth-year forward Robbie Sihota had 25 points and 11 rebounds as the seventh-seeded Calgary Dinos upset the No. 2 Cape Breton Capers 82-74 at the Canadian university men’s basketball tournament in Ottawa on Friday.

The win moves Calgary to the semifinal round for the second straight year. The Dinos will face UBC on Saturday.

Cape Breton takes on the loser of the UBC-Lakehead contest in consolation action.

Calgary won the game at the free-throw line, making 29-of-36 attempts. Cape Breton finished four-of-10.

Guard Jimmy Dorsey had 19 points for Cape Breton.

UBC 79, Lakehead 58

Blain LaBranche scored 14 points while Josh Whyte added 13 and five rebounds as the No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds beat the No. 6 Lakehead Thunderwolves 79-58, Friday.

UBC’s Blain LaBranche goes for a layup as Lakehead’s Matt Nagy defends during the quarter-finals at the 2010 Final 8 CIS men’s basketball championships at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa on Friday. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The Thunderbirds opened the second half with a 21-0 run to secure a spot in Saturday’s early semifinal against the Dinos.

Joseph Jones scored 14 points with seven rebounds for Lakehead, which faces Cape Breton on the consolation side of the draw. The Thunderwolves are making their first championship appearance since 1977.

“We weren’t really pleased with our play in the first half but, obviously, we’re really pleased with the way the guys responded after the break,” said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson.

“It should be a fantastic game against Calgary.”

Carleton 83, UQAM 72

Kevin McCleery had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists as the defending-champion Ravens cruised past the No. 8 UQAM Carabins.

The win moves the top-seeded Ravens into the semifinal for the eighth consecutive year. Carleton has won the national title in six of the past seven seasons.

Willy Manigat and Elliot Thompson had 14 points apiece while Cole Hobin added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Ravens, who will face Saskatchewan in semifinal action Saturday.

Arthaud Plesius led the way with 15 points for the Carabins, who are relegated to the consolation bracket. Éric Côté-Kougnima added 14 points, Adil El Makssoud 13 and Jules Diagne 11 for UQAM.

Saskatchewan 71, Windsor 68

The fifth-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies survived a furious second-half charge by the No. 4 Windsor Lancers and held on for a 71-68 quarter-final win, earning a date in the semifinals Saturday, against powerhouse Carleton.

The Huskies were up by as much as 22 points in the second half and trailed only once in the game, when Windsor scored the first point of the night.

But the Lancers outscored Saskatchewan 15-6 in the fourth quarter and had several chances to tie the match in the final 1:51, only to miss seven three-point shots.

The last opportunity came at the buzzer when Andre Smyth’s desperate attempt from centre court missed.

“We just couldn’t make shots in the second half,” said Saskatchewan head coach Greg Jockims, whose players shot 19 per cent from the field (4-21) in the final 20 minutes. “It’s excellent to get through the first game. Tomorrow we’ll be more relaxed.”

An area west of the central B.C. town of Revelstoke, above, was the scene of another fatal avalanche Friday. (Alan Silvester)

A massive avalanche in British Columbia’s mountainous backcountry on Friday killed at least one snowmobiler, injured two others and sparked a search for anyone else caught in the second deadly slide in the area in the past week.

The RCMP confirmed the mid-afternoon avalanche happened on Eagle Pass Mountain, 15 kilometres west of Revelstoke, not far from where two snowmobilers were killed and 31 were injured in a slide March 13.

“The avalanche … has been categorized as a large slide,” said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.

Moskaluk said an air and ground search involving the RCMP, avalanche dogs, search-and-rescue personnel and local helicopter operators was underway late Friday.

He said it was a Category 4 avalanche, which the Canadian Avalanche Centre lists as its second-largest rating.

The centre’s website said an avalanche of that size can have a mass of 10,000 tonnes, travel two kilometres, and would be powerful enough to ruin several buildings.

The centre’s forecast for the weekend place the avalanche risk at moderate to considerable.

Last winter, 75 per cent of the 26 people killed in avalanches in western Canada — most of them in B.C. — were snowmobilers.