Calgary Flames end 4-game skid with 4-2 win over Tampa Bay Lightning

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CALGARY, CANADA - DECEMBER 16: Anthony Cirelli #71 of the Tampa Bay Lightning shoots up ice before Nick Desimone of the Calgary Flames can stop him during the second period an NHL game at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 16, 2023 in Calgary, Alberta

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CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Yegor Sharangovich scored for the fifth consecutive game as the Calgary Flames snapped a four-game skid with a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

A.J. Greer, MacKenzie Weegar and Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, and Jordan Oesterle had two assists. Dan Vladar stopped 31 shots for the win.

Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa Bay, while NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov chipped in with a pair of assists as the Lightning finished 2-3-0 on their trip.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

"I’m disappointed in the road trip. You come out here, it’s a long way to go and a lot of days to come out with four points. I think we left points on the table," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

Tampa Bay was outscored 12-0 in the second period on the trip.

"Bottom line is we’ve got to be better as a whole," said defenseman Victor Hedman, who returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury. "It starts with the leaders in this room. It took us two periods to wake up. It’s not good enough in this league."

After a scoreless first period, Calgary broke through for three goals in the opening seven minutes of the second.

"The second period, I think, was maybe our best period of the year," Flames coach Ryan Huska said. "We controlled the play, we were smart with the puck, and we had a lot of zone time in that period."

Greer started the spree at 2:30, picking the top corner on Vasilevskiy’s glove side from just inside the top of the faceoff circle.

Weegar made it 2-0 at 6:17 by ripping a slap shot through a crowd just inside the far post. His eighth goal tied him for second among NHL defensemen, one behind Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks.

"I’m honestly just happy I’m contributing," Weegar added. "It’s coming. Every game right now, I’ve got to let it ride a little bit. I’m just trying to be a threat out there."

Only 43 seconds after that, Sharangovich fired Jordan Oesterle’s centering pass past Vasilevskiy.

With six goals during his career-best five-game streak, Sharangovich is up to a team-best 11 this season.

"When I get the chance to take a shot, I try to shoot and try to score, and if you shoot it three, four times in a game, maybe one shot will go for a goal," the soft-spoken Sharangovich said.

Tampa Bay finally solved Vladar at 4:10 of the third period when Kucherov was first to a puck along the end boards and zipped a pass to an uncovered Point in front, who scored his 14th goal.

Ninety seconds later, Stamkos scored his 15th to make it 3-2.

Zary scored on a brilliant individual effort at 11:42 to end the comeback bid. He picked up the puck inside his own blue line, skated down the left wing and despite having Brandon Hagel draped all over him, squeezed a shot past Vasilevskiy from a sharp angle.

"We’re not a bad team when we’re executing but when we get sloppy in our own end, it’s tough. Teams take over," Point said. "There’s skilled guys on the other team. You give them time and space and you give them turnovers and they make you pay, and again tonight that’s what happened."