It had been a while for Yegor Sharangovich but he finally snapped out of his goal-scoring drought on Tuesday.
Sharangovich scored the go-ahead goal at 12:09 of the third period and the Calgary Flames earned their fourth-straight win, 4-2, over the Los Angeles Kings. The 25-year-old hadn’t scored a goal in 11 games before Tuesday.
“It’s been a long time that I can’t score, but our line always has enough chances to score and finally we find a way,” said Sharangovich.
On the go-ahead marker, Sharangovich took a pass from Dryden Hunt, strode over the Los Angeles blue line and ripped a shot inside the goalpost.
Sharangovich was shifted from right-wing to centre after Elias Lindholm was dealt to the Vancouver Canucks during the NHL all-star break.
“It’s a little bit different role because you’re really responsible for the D-zone,” said Sharangovich. “It’s taken a little bit of time, but in the offensive zone doesn’t change. We’ve had a lot of chances and finally the puck has gone in.”
Flames head coach Ryan Huska says Sharangovich has adjusted nicely.
“He’s done a really good job for us since we’ve asked him to play in the middle of the ice,” said Huska. “He’s been responsible defensively, and that line is developing a little bit of chemistry, … to see him score tonight the way he did was a big moment for our team, for sure, but I know it will allow him to sleep a little better tonight as well.”
Andrew Mangiapane, Blake Coleman, and Mikael Backlund, into an empty net, also scored for Calgary (29-25-5), while Chris Tanev chipped in a pair of assists. Jacob Markstrom had 21 stops.
The Flames remain five points back of Nashville for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
“We’re never giving up,” said Mangiapane, who played in his 400th career game. “Obviously, we’re out of the playoff picture right now, but the way we’re playing, we want to keep playing like this and crawl back in and be one of those sleeper teams that everyone counts us out.”
Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala provided the offence for Los Angeles (29-19-10), which has dropped the first two of its three-game Western Canada road trip. Cam Talbot had 33 saves.
“They came out hard, hungry. They were better than us the first couple of minutes and it carried on to the game,” said Kings right-winger Quinton Byfield. “It’s tough when you start behind like that, but those are just games we’ve got to win.”
The Kings are tied in points with Nashville, but hold down the first wild-card spot having two games in hand.
Los Angeles got a power play with less than four minutes to go and then pulled Talbot halfway through to make it a two-man advantage, but failed to tie it.
“At the end we had a chance. Same thing against Edmonton, we had a 5-on-3,” said Danault. “We have to find a way to put it in. It’s always going to be tight like this until the end now so those little details could be the difference.”
Danault opened the scoring at 12:08 of the second period when he picked the top corner with a slap shot from 40 feet out.
Mangiapane responded 48 seconds later, burying a breakaway after being sprung by Noah Hanifin.
Coleman gave Calgary the lead 56 seconds after that, but Fiala evened it with 1:06 remaining in the middle frame.
Kempe out
The Kings were without right-winger Adrian Kempe, who returned to Los Angeles for further examination after getting injured on Monday against Edmonton. In adjusting his lines, coach Jim Hiller moved Pierre-Luc Dubois and Byfield up to the top line to flank Kopitar.
Mangiapane milestone
Drafted by Calgary in the sixth round (166th overall) of the 2015 draft, Mangiapane is one of only 13 active players drafted in the sixth round, to reach 400 games. He’s also the first from the sixth round of his draft class to reach that mark.
Markstrom a playmaker
With his assist on Mangiapane’s goal, Markstrom has five assists on the season. No other NHL goalie has more than two.
Up next
Kings: Wrap up their road trip on Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks.
Flames: Play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.