Kadri gets 3 points, Flames stay hot with win against Sabres

CALGARY -- Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Buffalo Sabres 7-4 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday.

“I think it was good efforts from everybody,” Kadri said. “It’s always nice to play with the lead in the first period. I think our start was great. It was a bit of an odd game, a lot of whistles and stoppages. It was tough to get a rhythm at times, but I thought we did a pretty good job.”

Yegor Sharangovich had two goals and an assist for the Flames (12-15-4), who have won the first three games of their four-game homestand and are 7-2-1 in their past 10.

“I thought we scored some timely goals, let’s put it that way,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “When we gave one up, we came right back and scored.

“We found a way to win. You’ve got to win that way sometimes. Earlier on, we weren’t winning that way. Now we find a way. Whether it’s the timely goals we scored tonight, you have to give the players credit for that.”

Rasmus Andersson, Jonathan Huberdeau and Mikael Backlund also scored, Yan Kuznetsov had a goal and an assist, and Matt Coronato had two assists. Dustin Wolf made 25 saves.

“We don’t necessarily like to play the scoring match,” Kuznetsov said. “We like to keep it tight around our net, but a win is a win and I'm glad we scored seven goals. We’ll move forward, keep the momentum.”

Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (11-14-4), who have lost the first three games of their six-game road trip.

“Horrible game, that’s all I can say.” Dahlin said. “The result, how the game ended, a lot of errors. (We have to) regroup. (We have a) game tomorrow (at the Edmonton Oilers)."

Tage Thompson, Owen Power and Alex Tuch also scored, and Josh Norris and Jason Zucker each had two assists. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 17 saves through two periods before being replaced by Alex Lyon, who stopped all four shots he faced in relief.

“It just seemed like 'UPL' was fighting it a little bit, so just a hunch to put the other guy in,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.

Sharangovich gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 9:54 of the first period when MacKenzie Weegar’s point shot went in off his arm.

“Sure, he gets a fortuitous bounce, but he’s there," Kadri said of Sharangovich. “He’s a presence in front. It goes off of him, he gets rewarded.”

Andersson extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:22 when he scored with one second left on a two-man advantage. Although Andersson’s stick broke when he took a shot from the point, the puck deflected off Buffalo defenseman Conor Timmins and past Luukkonen.

Thompson cut Calgary’s lead to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 4:24 of the second period. He scored with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Wolf to the blocker side.

Huberdeau put the Flames ahead 3-1 at 7:05, redirecting a pass from Coronato past Luukkonen on the power play.

Power made it 3-2 on a wrist shot through traffic at 13:43, but Kadri tapped in a pass from Joel Farabee 31 seconds later to give Calgary a 4-2 lead.

“The next shift after the opposing team scores is always important to stop the bleeding and nip it in the bud,” Kadri said. “I think we responded really well after goals (and) to start the game. Those were the two biggest keys.”

Dahlin cut it to 4-3 at 16:32, redirecting a pass from Josh Doan past Wolf, but Kuznetsov answered again by swatting in a rebound from the top of the crease 55 seconds later to put the Flames up 5-3.

“It’s nice for a defenseman like that to score, for sure,” Huska said. “He’s had some really good games for us. He’s done a lot of good things. Sneaking up there in the play like that was another good one. He picked the right time to do that.”

With Lyon on the bench for the extra attacker, Tuch redirected Dahlin’s point shot past Wolf at 17:29 of the third period to pull the Sabres to within 5-4.

However, Backlund (18:12) and Sharangovich (19:53) each scored an empty-net goal for the 7-4 final.

“We’ve got a game tomorrow and another three games on this road trip,” Thompson said. “We don't have time to sit here and dwell on it. Obviously, it [stinks] and everyone in here is tired of saying we played a good game and didn’t get a win, so it doesn’t really matter. We need wins.”

NOTES: The Flames are 5-0-1 in their past six home games. … Huberdeau has recorded a point in 13 consecutive games against the Sabres dating back to 2019-20. It’s the longest against a franchise in his career.