Wolf, Sharangovich Shine as Flames Drop Third in a Row

Fresh off a disappointing 6-5 loss the Colorado Avalanche, the Calgary Flames took on the Vegas Golden Knights with a devil-may-cry vigor. En Lieu of reverting to a rigid system, something that former Head Coach Darryl Sutter would have enforced, Calgary dropped their hands and traded blows with Vegas. It took 61:11 of lightning-fast play to determine a winner, but it was the Golden Knights that walked away with the 5-4 overtime victory and another two points in the standings.

The Flames struck first with a MacKenzie Weegar slap shot that found its way past Vegas Tender Logan Thompson’s blocker side. 

Minutes later, Mikael Backlund nearly made it a two-goal lead on a partial break. The Flames captain managed to outwait Thompson but couldn’t elevate the puck over the sprawling goaltender.

The Golden Knights answered back on a Chandler Stephenson sequence that saw the hard-driving Vegas center alone out front. Stephenson rofed a backhand to tie the game at one a piece.  

The Flames grabbed the lead back early in the second off a deflection goal by Nazem Kadri. Connor Zary put a light, tippable wrist shot right where the Calgary center needed it.  

In the same fashion as the night before, the Flames didn’t hold their 2-1 lead for long. Ivan Barbashev snapped home a tying goal off a broken play only 2:43 later.  

Yegor Sharangovich once again gave the Flames a lead using his go-to wrist shot off the rush for his eighth of the season with 2:02 remaining in the second period.  

Exactly six minutes into the third period, Mark Stone took a transition pass on the power play from William Karlsson and tucked a backhand past Dustin Wolf after a quick pump fake. The game was tied three-to-three.  

Once again – in the same fashion as the night before – the opposing team found a way to pull a late lead. This time it was William Karlsson one-timing a snap shot off a setup by Chandler Stephenson. The play started with Jordan Oesterle losing Jonathan Marchesseault and the diminutive forward sending the puck up to Stephenson.  

The Hockey Gods weren’t finished with the Calgary Flames. With hope fading, the goalie pulled, and less than a minute left in regulation, a Noah Hanifin shot was redirected by Yegor Sharangovich for his second goal of the game. The Flames rally was complete.  

Fate handed Calgary one point, but swiftly took the second point away when after a period of sustained overtime pressure by the Flames, Jack Eichel sprang Mark Stone on a partial break. The Vegas Captain fired off a snap shot at full stride over Dustin Wolf’s glove for the game winner. For the second time in two nights, Ryan Huska’s crew lost a game on the stick of the captain of a conference rival.  

The Flames will head to Minnesota to finish out a four-game road trip on Thursday against the Wild.  

Neufeld’s Three Stars

Mark Stone

2G 2A

Mark Stone was in full force on Tuesday night contributing to four of five of Vegas’ goals including potting the overtime winner. The Golden Knights captain now has 29 points in 30 games.

Dustin Wolf

Saving 34 of 39 shots and posting a .872 save percentage may not sound great, but there is no extra point without the heroics of the Flames rookie tender. The first period featured a barrage of quality shots on the 21 year old net minder turned away.

Yegor Sharangovich

2G

The Belarusian newcomer had his first multi-goal game of the 2023-2024 season including the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation hockey. The 25-year-old now has nine goals and seven assists in 29 games.