By Canadian Press

Coleman scores twice as Flames torch Golden Knights 4-1

Mar 14, 2024 | 9:06 PM

CALGARY — Blake Coleman scored twice, including the game winner, and the Calgary Flames roared back from an early deficit to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 on Tuesday.

Yegor Sharangovich had a goal and an assist, and Matt Coronato rounded out the scoring for Calgary (32-29-5), which snapped a three-game losing skid. Dryden Hunt chipped in a pair of assists.

Anthony Mantha scored the lone goal for Vegas (35-25-7), which has lost five of its last seven. The Golden Knights remain in the second wild card spot in the Western Conference with a four-point lead over the Minnesota Wild.

Rookie goalie Dustin Wolf, making his first start since Feb. 15, made 28 saves to improve to 2-3-1. His other win was back on Dec. 7.

At the other end, Adin Hill had 33 stops and fell to 17-9-2.

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Down 1-0 after 40 minutes, Calgary tied it four minutes into the third period just 12 seconds after failing to capitalize on a power play.

Hunt knocked the puck across to Sharangovich, whose shot went off the blade of Hill’s stick and tumbled over his pad.

What followed was critical in determining the outcome of the game.

Shea Theodore’s long pass sprang Ivan Barbashev on a breakaway, but he was denied on a blocker save by Wolf. Calgary then transitioned the puck up ice and scored the go-ahead goal seconds later.

Nazem Kadri outmuscled a Vegas defenceman to retrieve his own rebound off the end boards and centre the puck to Coleman, who fended off Nicolas Hague in front to bang in his 27th goal of the season.

The Flames got some insurance 14:45 into the third when Hunt set up Coronato for a one-timer and the rookie blasted his second goal of the season over Hill’s shoulder. The 20-year-old has spent a majority of the season in the American Hockey League and Thursday’s tally was his first goal in 18 NHL games dating back to Oct. 14.

Coleman than capped off the barrage with an empty netter at 17:02. 

Coleman and Sharangovich are tied for the team lead with 28 goals apiece.

The Flames entered the game coming off three bad losses in which they were outscored 18-5.

But they turned in a far superior defensive effort Thursday and had the slight edge territorially in a game where a mistake resulted in the opening goal for Vegas.

Defenceman Brayden Pachal, who was claimed off waivers from the Golden Knights on Feb. 4, had his backhanded outlet pass intercepted in the slot by Theodore. The Vegas defenceman then fired the pass across the slot to Mantha, who buried the one-timer before Wolf could slide across.

HANIFIN RETURNS 

Noah Hanifin returned to Calgary where he played for six seasons before being dealt to the Golden Knights ahead of last week’s trade deadline. Playing his fourth game for Vegas, he got a warm applause from the crowd after a video tribute during the first TV timeout. Throughout the rest of the game, pockets of fans that booed the defenceman.

RARE BLOWN LEAD

Vegas entered the game 25-1-2 when leading after two periods for a .893 win percentage, which was tied for fifth in the NHL.

NOT-SO-RARE COMEBACK

It’s the ninth time Calgary has won when trailing after two periods (9-23-2), which ties them with Detroit and Colorado for the most in the league.

UP NEXT

Golden Knights: Open a four-game home stand on Sunday against New Jersey .

Flames: Montreal visits the Saddledome on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2024.

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press