Flames score 4 times in 3rd, pull away from Sabres

BUFFALO -- Joel Farabee had two goals, and the Calgary Flames scored four times in the third period for a 6-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.

“I’ve always really liked this rink, actually. I feel like I’ve always played well, had some good energy here,” said Farabee, who is from Syracuse, New York, just over a two-hour drive east of Buffalo. “I think being in Calgary now, my parents don’t really get to come to many games much, so nice to have them here.”

Rasmus Andersson had a goal and two assists, and Matt Coronato and Morgan Frost each had a goal and an assist for the Flames (6-13-3), who rebounded from a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday to win for just the second time in their past seven games (2-4-1). Devin Cooley made 28 saves for his first win with Calgary.

“It was a pretty complete game from us from start to finish, and the stretch where we had to kill some penalties I thought was important for us again to get through that part of the game,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “And it was nice to see the guys score some goals tonight, even a couple that were lucky. We haven’t seen a lot of those this year.”

Mattias Samuelsson had a goal and an assist, and Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres (7-9-4), who had won two in a row. Colten Ellis made 29 saves.

“As a group, there wasn’t a lot of players to like in the game,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “If you want to break down every goal, somebody got outmuscled somewhere, somebody got beat back up ice. Didn’t really see that coming. The first periods, you’ve got to get back to being a physical team, in a sense of winning battles and winning puck races, which I thought we didn’t do, and they beat us to pucks that led to goals.”

Frost put Calgary ahead 3-2 at 2:02 of the third period when he took a cross-crease pass from Jonathan Huberdeau at the right post and slid it past Ellis.

Mikael Backlund pushed a puck from the slot stick side to increase it to 4-2 at 7:34. Farabee won a race to a loose puck for a partial breakaway to extend it to 5-2 at 9:50.

Coronato's shot from in front bounced off the end glass, dropped behind Ellis, then went in off his right leg at 17:49 for the 6-2 final.

“We were much more Calgary Flames-ish tonight, so I was pleased with the way the guys handled themselves in the back-to-back,” Huska said. “I think they did a really good job of making sure they prepared themselves to play the right way today.”

Andersson gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 5:58 of the first period. Ellis couldn’t corral a rebound and a pinching Andersson put a wrist shot under the bar from the bottom of the right circle.

Farabee made it 2-0 when he was in front of the net to direct Nazem Kadri’s centering pass through Ellis’ pads at 12:04.

"I think we get a little too high on ourselves after a couple of wins,” Thompson said. “We think we’re better than we are instead of remembering what got us those wins. I thought looking back at the other game against Edmonton (a 5-1 win against the Oilers on Monday), I thought we were really hard to play against, and I thought tonight we were really easy, really light on the puck. Anytime you’re doing that you’re going to lose games.”

Samuelsson cut it to 2-1 at 10:21 of the second period, intercepting Yan Kuznetsov’s clearing pass along the right wall and taking it to the face-off dot before beating Cooley with a snap shot short side.

Thompson took a pass from Samuelsson above the right circle and one-timed it off the post and in to tie it 2-2 at 15:57.

“There’s some games where we put it together and everybody’s rolling and you see the potential,” Samuelsson said. “And then there’s some games where maybe guys are just passengers or not enough guys pulling the same way. Tonight, I thought it was a little discombobulated out there.”

NOTES: The six goals are a season-high for Calgary, which had scored five twice this season. … Cooley’s last NHL win came April 11, 2024, with the San Jose Sharks. He signed with the Flames on July 1, 2024, but spent all of last season with Calgary in the American Hockey League. … Samuelsson’s goal was his fourth of the season in his 18th game, tying his NHL career high set last season in 62 games.