Flames Fall To Sabres

It was another close one, but for the second game in as many nights, the Flames came out on the wrong end of the score.

Down 2-1 with two minutes and change to go, the Flames pulled goaltender Dustin Wolf but couldn't find the tying tally against the Sabres Sunday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, Buffalo potting two empty-netters for a 4-1 victory.

Calgary lost 4-2 in another tight contest in Vancouver less than 24 hours earlier.

Jonathan Huberdeau had the lone marker for the Flames, while Wolf finished with 25 saves.

The Sabres scored on their first shot of the game when Calgary product Peyton Krebs skated in on the left-wing and snapped a puck farside under the glove of Wolf at 4:53.

With time winding down in the first, Wolf denied Bowen Byram on a 3-on-1 Sabres rush when the blueliner held and fired. The former first-round pick has been on a tear since being acquired right before the trade deadline from Colorado, scoring three goals and six points in eight outings.

The Flames got on the board with a powerplay tally at 10:35, moments after Yegor Sharangovich had rang one off the post. Huberdeau then tried to fire a pass towards the net and it went off the stick of Owen Power and into the cage for No. 10’s 10th of the season.

Martin Pospisil got a breakaway minutes later, winding up to fake a slapshot, then trying to finesse it five hole, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen making the save and the Flames forward then putting the rebound off the post from a tight angle.

Wolf said ‘hold my water bottle’ after that one, later stopping big Tage Thompson’s partial breakaway.

With time winding down, Wolf also denied Alex Tuch’s tip attempt on a powerplay to keep it knotted at one after 40 minutes.  

JJ Peterka scored the game-winner at 11:04 of the third period, slipping into the slot and one-timing a pass from Tage Thompson who was behind the net. Thompson and Connor Clifton finished it off with the empty-netters. 

Prior to the tilt, the Flames honoured Chris Simon, who passed away March 18.

The Lineup:

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau - Yegor Sharangovich - Andrei Kuzmenko

Connor Zary - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil

Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman

A.J. Greer - Kevin Rooney - Dryden Hunt

DEFENCE

Oliver Kylington - Rasmus Andersson

MacKenzie Weegar - Daniil Miromanov

Joel Hanley - Brayden Pachal

GOALTENDER

Dustin Wolf - starter

Jacob Markstrom

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 33, BUF 29

Powerplay: CGY 1-2, BUF 0-1

Faceoffs: CGY 62.7%, BUF 37.3%

Blocked Shots: CGY 16, BUF 22

Hits: CGY 13, BUF 12

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 26, BUF 22

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 10, BUF 7

Up Next:

The Flames head out on the road for a two-game set Tuesday in Chicago and Thursday in St. Louis, before returning home to host the Kings (TICKETS).