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The Sharks mustered 17 wins during their inaugural campaign and were worse in their second — the winter of 1992-93.

They arrived at the Saddledome that historic night with a 6-46-2 record.

When they departed, they’d dropped 16 in a row. They were on their way to an NHL record for the most losses in one season, with 71.

The Flames didn’t show any mercy.

Already up 7-1 at the second intermission, the hosts established another club and league mark by scoring three times in the opening 53 seconds of the third.

They didn’t let up then, either, with Reichel and Ronnie Stern both finishing off hat-tricks.

Reese was admittedly feeling bad for Arturs Irbe and his buddy, Jeff Hackett, the masked men at the opposite end.

Fleury, who scored once and racked up five helpers in his plus-9 performance against the Sharks, insists he didn’t feel a shred of sympathy.

“Back then, we kept the pedal on the gas a lot more than I’d say teams do nowadays,” Fleury said. “Now, nobody likes to run up the score. It’s nicey, nicey nice. Back then, that’s not how we played the game.

“It’s like when you hang out with the old Oilers boys, and you say, ‘Jeez, Gretz was getting 200 points a year.’ And you know what they say? ‘Yeah, Gretz wanted 300.’ That was his attitude. And I think that was the attitude of what it was like back in the ’80s and ’90s — just get as many points as you can.”

The as-many-points-as-you-can mantra doesn’t typically apply to the guy in goal-pads.

But on this night, Reese was racking ’em up.

To put his offensive outburst in perspective, consider that current Flames stalwart Mike Smith — arguably the best puck-handler and puck-mover at his position — has never collected more than three assists in an entire season.

“This one, I truly believe somebody will tie it. Especially with overtime, with three-on-three … ” Reese said. “Nobody has got there yet, but I think it certainly will be tied. Now, will a goalie ever get four? I don’t know, that could be stretching it. But I believe it will be tied.

“For now, it’s a fun thing to have.”

wgilbertson@postmedia.com