Flames catch fire in third period, burn Senators 6 3

CALGARY Yegor Sharangovich and Blake Coleman each scored two goals and the Calgary Flames scored four unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the Ottawa Senators 6 3 on Tuesday night. Noah Hanifin with a goal and two assists also had a big night for Calgary (18 18 5) with Connor Zary also scoring.

Nazem Kadri had two assists to give him 600 career points in the NHL. The Flames come back to win when trailing after two periods for the sixth time, which is tied for Colorado for the league lead. Jacob Bernard Docker, Dominik Kubalik and Brady Tkachuk provided the offence for Ottawa (14 22 0), which has dropped the first four games of its five game road trip.

The Senators have lost nine of their last 10 away from home. Jacob Markstrom had 30 saves for the Flames to improve to 11 11 2. His biggest stop of the night came six minutes into the third period when he denied Mathieu Joesph on a breakaway to keep the score 3 3 at the time. Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves for the Senators.

He falls to 7 14 0. Down 3 2 entering the third period, it took just 47 seconds for Calgary to tie it with Hanifin swooping in front from off the point and sending a backhand inside the far post. Hanifin was also involved in the go ahead goal at 8:57, only in a much different way. When his stick blew up on a shot attempt from the blue line, the puck still trickled forward where Coleman corralled it and fired it past Korpisalo.

Sharangovich's second of the game at 15:45 made it a two goal cushion and Coleman wrapped up the third period barrage with his team leading 17th goal into an empty net at 17:12. The Senators had taken their third lead of the night at 12:39 of the second making it 3 2 on Tkachuk's team leading 17th goal.

On a power play, Ottawa moved the puck around nicely with Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux combining to set up Tkachuk in the low slot. Down 2 1 after 20 minutes, Calgary tied it at 3:50 of the second when Elias Lindholm, with his stick tied up, kicked the puck to Jonathan Huberdeau, who set up Sharangovich, who ripped his 13th of the season into the top corner.

The Senators took a 2 1 lead with three seconds left in the first period after a prolonged stretch of extended pressure in the Calgary end eventually culminated in Kubalik knocking the puck past a besieged Markstrom, who faced six shots in that 75 second span. The Senators opened the scoring at 4:09 when Bernard Docker's point shot was stopped by Markstrom, but the rebound off his pad caromed off the leg of Calgary defenceman Yaz Kuznetsov and bounced into the net.

The misfortune for the 21 year old in his NHL debut came on the second shift for the Flames' 2020 second rounder who was making his NHL debut. Zary answered back 44 seconds later, tying it when he took advantage of a Senators turnover by wristing a shot into the top corner. ONE IN, ONE OUT Ottawa welcomed back Mathieu Joseph after missing 10 game with a lower body injury.

He played on the Senators' top line with Tkachuk and Josh Norris. While he came in, exiting the lineup due to illness was D Artum Zub. BACKLUND INTO SECOND Calgary captain Mikael Backlund, 34, played in his 949th career game, moving him into a tie with Mark Giordano for second on the Flames' all time list behind Jarome Iginla (1,219 games).

It comes 15 years and one day after the club's first round pick in 2007 made his NHL debut. DUBE SITS Flames forward Dillon Dube was a healthy scratch for the Flames for the first time since the spring of 2021. Coming off back to back 18 goal seasons, the 25 year old has scored just three times in 20 games and has gone 20 games without a point.

UP NEXT Senators: Wrap up their five game road trip in Buffalo on Thursday. Flames: Begin a two game road trip on Thursday in Arizona. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2024..