Heads Up, Seven Up!

Goals galore!

And some happy totals for the homeside, too, as the Flames exploded for a season-high seven tallies in a 7-4 victory over the Sabres Monday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Yegor Sharangovich and Nazem Kadri both enjoyed three-point nights - Sharangovich with two markers, Kadri with a goal of his own - while Rasmus Andersson, Jonathan Huberdeau, Yan Kuznetsov and Mikael Backlund also tickled the twine for Calgary, who extended their winning streak to three games and improved to 7-2-1 over their last 10 contests.

"I thought we scored some timely goals," Head Coach Ryan Huska said following the game. "When we gave one up, we came right back and scored. I thought that was a big point of the game, where the guys, they didn’t really sag all that much at that point, but they found a way score again.

"But it was a game with lots of stops and starts, powerplays, penalties, not a lot of rhythm to tonight’s game, but we found a way to win."

"I think it’s a really big thing, we (took) a ‘W,’" Sharangovich added. "Three games in a row, we win the game. Now we have fun, and everyone is smiling.

"We need to just keep going."

Sharangovich got the goal-scoring started six seconds before the midway mark of the first, while providing a screen in front of Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. MacKenzie Weegar let a point shot fly that hit Sharangovich in the arm, then caromed into the net for the Belarusian forward’s second game-opening goal in as many contests.

Andersson extended the lead just over three minutes later on a Calgary powerplay. His stick broke, but the puck didn’t - and his change-up slapshot found space to the right of Luukkonen’s right pad and glided into the net.

Tage Thompson got one back for the Sabres on a powerplay of their own early in period two, but the Flames special teams responded at their next time of asking. Matt Coronato and Morgan Frost played give-and-go in the offensive zone, then Coronato zipped a hard pass to the back post, where Huberdeau, stick to skate, re-directed it in for his sixth goal of the season.

Thompson thought he had a second goal seconds later, but the locals challenged - and got the play overturned on account of an offside at the Calgary blue line.

The last six minutes and change of the middle stanza saw a flurry of offence.

Owen Power cut the Flames lead to 3-2 at 13:43, but just 31 seconds later Calgary responded on a tic-tac-toe play. Sharangovich spun the puck into the right corner for Joel Farabee, who kicked it back out to the low slot, right onto Kadri’s tape for a tap-in as the centreman strode hard to the front of the net.

Rasmus Dahlin replied with his second goal of the season with 3:28 left in the period, but again, Calgary responded less than a minute later, when Blake Coleman won a puck battle behind the Buffalo net. He pivoted, trying to jam the disc past Luukkonen, who spilled a rebound onto an oncoming Kuznetsov, who chipped the puck over Luukkonen’s left pad and into the net for his first NHL goal beneath the Saddle.

The score remained 5-3 in Calgary's favour until the late stages of period three, when Alex Tuch redirected a shot home on a Sabres powerplay with 2:31 to play.

But the Flames - once again - answered back quickly. Netminder Alex Lyon, who replaced Luukkonen at the start of the third period, headed to the bench, but his teammates turned the puck over at the Calgary blue line, allowing Backlund to stride down the left wing and fire the puck into the empty net.

Sharangovich added another long-range empty netter in the dying embers of the third period.

Dustin Wolf turned aside 25 shots between the pipes for the Flames to improve to 5-1-2 over his last eight home starts.

The Lineup:

FORWARDS

Jonathan Huberdeau - Morgan Frost - Matt Coronato

Yegor Sharangovich - Nazem Kadri - Joel Farabee

Connor Zary - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman

Ryan Lomberg - John Beecher - Adam Klapka

DEFENCE

Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson

Yan Kuznetsov - MacKenzie Weegar

Joel Hanley - Brayden Pachal

GOALTENDER

Dustin Wolf - starter

Devin Cooley

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 28, BUF 29

Powerplay: CGY 2-5, BUF 2-6

Faceoffs: CGY 52.9%, BUF 47.1%

Hits: CGY 17, BUF 19

Blocked Shots: CGY 17, BUF 8

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 20, BUF 24

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 11, BUF 13

Up Next:

The Flames' four-game homestand draws to a close Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. MT, when the Detroit Red Wings pay their lone visit of the regular season to the Scotiabank Saddledome. (CLICK FOR TICKETS)