Calgary, Alberta (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres dug themselves a first-period hole they never escaped from on Monday night in Calgary.
The Calgary Flames held, at times, four one-goal leads, scoring the next goal every time to apply constant pressure in, what was eventually, a 7-4 win over the Sabres at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Halfway through the first period, the Flames opened the scoring.
A point shot from defenseman Mackenzie Weegar was deflected by a body in front. That body happened to be teammate Yegor Sharangovich, who received credit for the Calgary goal.
The Flames doubled their lead minutes later, while boasting a 5-on-3 power play advantage.
Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson took a one-timer, in which his stick exploded during the attempt. Due to the malfunction, Andersson's shot came off his stick much weaker than intended, and the reduced speed of the fluttering rubber fooled Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen enough to make it a 2-0 contest.
Still at 2-0 early in the second period, the Sabres finally got on the scoreboard.
While on a power play opportunity, Josh Norris hooked up with Tage Thompson with a wicked East-West pass that Thompson wired home past Flames goalie Dustin Wolf.
Two-and-a-half minutes later, though, Calgary responded and re-upped the lead back up to two.
Veteran forward Jonathan Huberdeau was able to tap a puck home to the side of the Sabres net off the left post to vault the Flames to a 3-1 edge on the power play again.
The Sabres kept close in the rearview mirror, though.
With 6:17 left in the middle stanza, patience paid off for Owen Power. The defenseman waited for a shooting lane to appear, and once one did, he scored his third goal of the season to make it 3-2, Flames.
Calgary hit the gas once again just 30 seconds later, and yet again, thwarted hope for the Sabres to tie the game. A giveaway inside the Buffalo end led to a tic-tac-toe goal for the Flames, which ended with a tap-in for forward Nazem Kadri.
The script followed suit again two minutes later.
For the third time on the night, the Sabres trimmed a two-goal deficit to one, as captain Rasmus Dahlin tapped home Buffalo's third goal, set up by Josh Doan and Norris.
Less than a minute later, Calgary pulled away with another greasy goal.
This time, it was defenseman Yan Kuznetsov jamming home the Flames' fifth goal, as the home side extended its lead to 5-3 late in the second period.
The insanity died down in the third period, and some of that was contributed to the presence of Alex Lyon in net for the Sabres. Lyon relieved Luukkonen to start the period, and stopped the four shots he saw from the Calgary offense.
Meanwhile, the Sabres got within a goal for a fourth time on the night, without being able to bunch goals together to tie the affair.
In the late stages with a two-man advantage, Alex Tuch tipped home a Dahlin point shot to, yet again, make things interesting enough in Calgary at 5-4.
However, Calgary salted things away from there with two empty-net goals from Mikael Backlund and Sharangovich.
The Sabres are now 0-3-0 halfway through their current six-game road trip.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: NONE
CGY: 9:54 - Yegor Sharangovich (5) (Mackenzie Weegar, Nazem Kadri); 13:22 - Rasmus Andersson (7) PPG (Matt Coronato, Nazem Kadri)
Second Period:
BUF: 4:24 - Tage Thompson (13) PPG (Jason Zucker, Josh Norris); 13:43 - Owen Power (3) (Peyton Krebs, Jacob Bryson); 16:32 - Rasmus Dahlin (2) (Josh Doan, Josh Norris)
CGY: 7:05 - Jonathan Huberdeau (6) (Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost); 14:14 - Nazem Kadri (6) (Joel Farabee, Yegor Sharangovich); 17:27 - Yan Kuznetsov (2) (Blake Coleman)
Third Period:
BUF: 17:29 - Alex Tuch (10) PPG (Rasmus Dahlin, Jason Zucker)
CGY: 18:12 - Mikael Backlund (5) ENG (Unassisted); 19:53 - Yegor Sharangovich (6) ENG (Yan Kuznetsov)
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Blue Star Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Nazem Kadri - CGY
2.) Yegor Sharangovich - CGY
3.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres are next off to Edmonton to visit the Oilers on Tuesday night. Puck drop at Rogers Place is set for 9 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.