Flames claw back but ultimately suffer shootout loss to Islanders | Maqvi News

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The Calgary Flames have been proud of their stick-with-it. 

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This is just the latest example. 

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The Flames erased a pair of third-period deficits to squeeze at least a single point out of Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Islanders at the Saddledome. 

Yegor Sharangovich notched the tying tally with just over six minutes remaining in regulation and also had Calgary’s lone marker in the breakaway competition. Oliver Wahlstrom ended the affair with a top-shelf beauty in the fourth round of the shootout.  

Martin Pospisil, Blake Coleman and MacKenzie Weegar were the others lamp-lighters for the home-side, while Ilya Sorokin was credited with 35 shots in the visiting crease. 

The Flames opened Saturday’s scoring on a slick connection from what many are calling the ‘Kadri and The Kids’ line.  

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Rookie winger Connor Zary hit Nazem Kadri with a soft touch-pass on the breakout, and the veteran centre spied the streaking Pospisil and bounced the puck off the side-wall. Pospisil, who like Zary started this season with the AHL’s Wranglers, raced past a defender, cut towards the net and finished off a patient deke to his forehand for his third career goal. 

Hudson Fasching answered less than five minutes later with a blocker-side strike and then early in the middle stanza, after Kadri was busted for hooking, Kyle Palmieri put the Islanders ahead by depositing a rebound on the power-play. Flames starter Jacob Markstrom had just denied Bo Horvat with a toe-save, but Palmieri was all alone in gimme range.   

The Isles extended their lead during four-on-four action. Rasmus Andersson coughed up a puck and Mat Barzal made sure that was a costly mistake, sizzling a low shot past Markstrom. 

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Coleman might want to treat defenceman Nick DeSimone to dinner after a superb setup on his second-period snipe. DeSimone, another NHL newbie but not officially classed as a rookie because he is 28 years old, cruised into the slot, sold Sorokin on a fake and slid a pass to Coleman for a close-range re-direct.       

While the Flames netted an equalizer early in the third, with Weegar benefitting from an accidental deflection by Islanders blue-liner Alexander Romanov, it was tied for just 19 seconds before Brock Nelson buried a rebound at the opposite end. 

Sharangovich was the guy who ensured that the hosts would collect at least one point in the standings. He tipped a wrister from Noah Hanifin to knot the score, then raised his stick to announce that he had, indeed, managed to get a piece of it.   

The Flames will now pack their bags for a four-game road-trip that starts with Monday’s matchup against the Kraken in Seattle (8 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).  

wgilbertson@postmedia.com 

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