Yegor Sharangovich tallied twice and Dustin Wolf came up clutch as the Flames defeated the Sharks, improving to 4-0-2 in their past six.
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Yegor Sharangovich tallied twice and Dustin Wolf came up clutch as the Flames defeated the Sharks, improving to 4-0-2 in their past six.
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It wasn’t exactly a guarantee.
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But after another must-have victory Sunday at the Saddledome, Calgary Flames heart-and-soul sort MacKenzie Weegar started a sentence with ‘If’ and then changed his mind.
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“If … When I know we get into playoffs, we’ll be ready to go,” Weegar declared after a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks, a game that required more nail-biting than the final score would suggest. “That’s what you want — you want to play tight games like this and exciting games like this, when the pressure is on the line. I think we’re ready for the challenge.
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“Let’s go. I’m ready for it.”
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Noon News Roundup
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They’re not in yet, but they’re still in the hunt. These Flames, currently on a six-game point streak (4-0-2), deserve a whole heap of credit for that.
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With two dates remaining on their regular-season schedule, they continue to hang in the Western Conference wild-card race.
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They staved off elimination Sunday, scoring three times in the third period — Yegor Sharangovich had two of those — to squeeze past the Sharks.
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They’ll need two more triumphs, Tuesday against the visiting Vegas Golden Knights and Thursday as they travel to Los Angeles for a makeup matchup with the Kings.
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They will also need some help Tuesday — a loss for either the Minnesota Wild or St. Louis Blues. The Flames are three points back of the Wild and two behind the Blues, and they’re not in control of either tiebreaker.
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“Desperation, that’s what we need to have and I think that’s what we’re going to come out with,” said Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau, looking ahead to Game 81 of 82 after collecting two assists against the Sharks. “You’ve gotta give everything. If not, you are going into the summer with no playoffs, so you’ve gotta give everything you have.
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“I believe in this team, and I believe we can do that.”
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Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s victory at the Saddledome …
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FINDING A WAY
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The Flames and Sharks were deadlocked after two periods, a potentially scary situation against a last-place team trying to play spoiler.
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The pressure didn’t seem to weigh on the hosts. As Weegar reminded after a monster performance, which included a timely goal and eight shot attempts: “We’re so confident in that third period in a tight game right now. We’ve been in that situation so many times.”
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Between the go-ahead goal from Sharangovich and an insurance snipe by Matt Coronato, rookie twine-minder Dustin Wolf came up clutch on what could have been a heartbreaker of a bounce.
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With the Sharks on the power-play, the puck took a wacky ricochet off the end-boards and wound up on Tyler Toffoli’s blade at the top of the crease.
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Wolf, who had started to look over his left shoulder, realized just in time that something was amiss, flashing his right pad to deny the former Flames forward of a freebie. Toffoli had, earlier in the evening, tallied his 30th of the season.
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“I saw it and (my thought) was, ‘Are you kidding me?!?’ ” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska when asked about the most crucial of Wolf’s 28 stops against the Sharks. “And then it was, ‘Are you kidding me, it’s Toff?!?’ Because Toff scores those. He doesn’t miss those.
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“Wolfie made a huge save. I don’t know how he figured out it was not coming the right way. But to get across like he did was a really big save at that time.”
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A season-saver, perhaps. If the Sharks had tied it up on a fluke, how much of a gut-punch would that have been?
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“I give our group a lot of credit,” Huska said after Sunday’s victory. “They are a resilient team, no matter what the situation is. I’m proud of them.
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“They’re not throwing a towel in if we’re down. If we’re up, they’re going to continue to grind. I like the way they’re playing right now. I just feel like that belief they’ve built over the course of the year is at its strongest right now.”
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SOMETHING FISHY
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The secret to Sharangovich’s sudden scoring splurge?
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Apparently, a switch to his pre-game meal.
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Typically a chicken-and-pasta guy, he recently made the switch to salmon and risotto.
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“My wife just told me I should try something different,” Sharangovich said, crediting an assist to his better half. “I tried it once and it worked, so I just keep it.”
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It is, indeed, working wonders.
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This season has mostly been a struggle for Sharangovich — his has often been the first name to pop up when the conversation turns to Flames who have not been pulling their weight — but the 26-year-old has found his groove at the right time.
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‘Sharky’ is on a three-game lamp-lighting streak and potted a pair against San Jose, going glove-side on Georgi Romanov for the go-ahead strike in the early stages of the third — that was also a milestone marker, the 100th of his career — and later salting it away with an empty-netter.
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“I feel when he’s playing the way he is now that any time the puck is on his stick, he has the ability to score and he has the ability to make a play that can change a game,” Huska said of Sharangovich. “And tonight, he did that.”
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Which means that he won’t be messing with this current recipe.
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“A lot of players won’t show you that they’re having a tough go when they’re not playing to their expectations for whatever reason,” Huska said. “But to me, that’s a care thing — like, ‘I have to do whatever I can do to get myself back on track.’ If he went to salmon and risotto, then he should stay with salmon and risotto.”
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KING OF CALGARY?
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Word is, the Flames have landed one of the top targets on the college free-agent market.
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As soon as Monday, expect an announcement that Calgary-raised centre Carter King has signed with his hometown team. The 23-year-old just captained the University of Denver Pioneers to the NCAA’s Frozen Four, where they were defeated in the semifinals as they tried for a third national title in a four-year span.
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Although King’s one-year contract won’t kick in until the 2025-26 campaign, this lefty will reportedly join the AHL’s Wranglers for the remainder of the season on an amateur tryout. It will be a valuable introduction to pro hockey for a guy who will arrive at training camp as a candidate for the role of fourth-line pivot.
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King, who is listed at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, notched 21 goals and 22 assists in 44 appearances this season with Pioneers. He’s been a trusted penalty-killer and faceoff man at the college level, swiping 55.1 percent of his draws this winter in conference action.
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There was competition, with several other squads rumoured to be waiting with contract offers, but King is apparently coming home. He is a graduate of Lake Bonavista’s minor program, now part of Knights Hockey Club, and an alum of the ‘AAA’ Buffaloes.
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