Sharangovich leads Flames to win over Sabres

CALGARY – Yegor Sharangovich had two goals and an assist, and linemate Nazem Kadri added a goal and two helpers to lead the surging Calgary Flames to a 7-4 NHL victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

Rasmus Andersson, Jonathan Huberdeau, Yan Kuznetsov, and Mikael Backlund, into an empty net, also scored for Calgary (12-15-4). The Flames improved to 7-2-1 in their last 10.

Tage Thompson, Owen Power, Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch replied for Buffalo (11-14-4).

Dustin Wolf made 25 saves to win his third straight start since getting back between the pipes after watching backup Devin Cooley start three consecutive games. Wolf improves to 9-12-2.

Sabres starter Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen, pulled by coach Lindy Ruff after giving up five goals on 22 shots through two periods, took the loss to fall to 4-5-1. Alex Lyon made four stops in relief.

Down 2-0 after 20 minutes, Thompson got Buffalo on the scoreboard 4:24 into the second. But that momentum was short-lived as consecutive penalties to Beck Malenstyn and Jordan Greenway resulted in a short two-man advantage leading to Huberdeau’s power-play goal at 7:05 that restored Calgary’s two-goal cushion.

TAKEAWAYS

Sabres: Halfway through their six-game road trip — Buffalo’s first road trip of at least six games and 12 or more days since March 1-12, 2011 — the Sabres are 0-3 having also lost in Philadelphia and Winnipeg. Despite the team’s cool play, centre Josh Norris remains hot. Two more assists gives him points in all four games (2 goals, 5 assists) since returning from an upper-body injury that sidelined him to start the season.

Flames: Calgary continues its strong play at the Scotiabank Saddledome, where they’ve won four straight and are 5-0-1 in their last six. The Flames improve to 7-4-2 on home ice on the season. Calgary is three games into a stretch in which they’re playing 19 of 28 games at home. This comes on the heels of the first 28 games of the season in which Calgary played 18 on the road, which led the NHL.

KEY MOMENT

Twice in a furious final seven minutes of the second period, Buffalo cut its deficit to one, only for Calgary to answer back less than a minute later to restore a two-goal cushion. After Power’s goal at 13:43 made it 3-2, Kadri scored 31 seconds later. After Dahlin’s goal made it 4-3 at 16:32, Kuznetsov scored 55 seconds later.

KEY STAT

Despite being the NHL’s lowest-scoring team, averaging 2.48 goals per game, the Flames have scored six or more goals twice this season and both times were against the Sabres. Calgary won 6-2 in Buffalo on Nov. 19.

UP NEXT

Sabres: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

Flames: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.