CALGARY – As if he hasn’t done enough over the last few weeks to win over Flames faithful, Yegor Sharangovich’s latest goal won two fans a trip to Vegas on Saturday night.
Maybe, just maybe, the Flames also hit the jackpot with a trade that sure didn’t seem like a win early on.
After a slow start in Calgary that saw the 25-year-old bounce between the first and fourth line, there he was on Hockey Night in Canada, potting his sixth goal in his last five games to send the crowd, and the lucky couple, into a froth.
“I just met them and they are very happy,” beamed the Flames’ 25-year-old winger, whose team-leading 11th goal was the winner in a 4-2 win over Tampa Bay that saw the hosts hold onto a third-period lead for the first time in four outings.
“They just said, ‘thank you, great goal, great game.’”
Sharangovich’s post-game meeting with Eric and Kylie Jansen capped off a wild night for the Saskatchewan natives, who won their way into the game as part of a Minute to Win It contest that sends folks to Sin City if the Flames score in a designated time frame.
Coach Ryan Huska insisted he didn’t send his red-hot sniper out with an eye on helping them win.
Even with Sharangovich in the midst of a four-game goal scoring streak, the couple still couldn’t fathom he’d send them packing.
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A Sharangovich slapper from the top of the circle beat Andrei Vasilevskiy late in the second period of a 2-0 game, tying him with Kent Nilsson and Joe Mullen for the longest goal streak by a player in their first season in Calgary, at five games.
It had Eric willing to trade the signed Nazem Kadri jersey he’d been given by the club for Sharangovich’s no. 17.
“100 per cent,” he laughed, wearing a Doug Gilmour jersey.
“I was really excited when the Flames got him. I’m happy to see him doing well.”
Speaking of trades, now seems a fashionable time to assess the summertime move that saw Sharangovich and a third rounder sent west by New Jersey in exchange for Tyler Toffoli.
Toffoli wanted out of Calgary after it was clear his contract demands wouldn’t fit into the team’s youth movement, prompting Craig Conroy to make his first trade as GM.
As impressive as Toffoli was as the team’s leading scorer a year earlier, the Flames needed to move on from the 31-year-old who had one year left on a $4 million contract.
Enter the Devils, who were looking for a right-shot veteran to ride shotgun with Jack Hughes.
Despite a 24-goal season the year before, Sharangovich had become a spare part in Jersey who was playing third-line minutes.
The Flames figured Sharangovich wouldn’t be able to replace the points Toffoli had but he was a younger, cheaper, faster player who might just thrive with an augmented role.
Signed immediately by Conroy to a two-year extension for $3.1 million, Sharangovich struggled out of the gate, scoring twice in his first 16 games while Huska tried him in virtually every role imaginable.
It started to click alongside Elias Lindholm on the top line, leading to a run that has seen the soft-spoken Belarussian score nine times and add five assists in his last 15 games.
“Different system and different team and everything is different, it takes time,” said Sharangovich of his steady rise to prominence in Calgary.
He is also the team’s shootout ace, scoring on three of his four attempts this year to be the only Flames player to score in the shootout this year.
You read that right, as the rest of his teammates have combined to go 0-for-12.
He’s also been a star penalty killer, pairing up with Blake Coleman for four of the team’s six shorties so far.
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He hasn’t been able to help the Flames’ power play, but his soft hands have him in charge of entering the zone — a gig Johnny Gaudreau had for years.
In the last year of a deal that may see him walk into free agency, Toffoli has been a good fit in Jersey, with a comparable stat line of 13 goals, 10 helpers in 28 games.
Sharangovich has 11 goals and eight assists in 31 outings and isn’t eligible to sign elsewhere until after next season.
One piece of the trade often overlooked is the third rounder Conroy was thrilled to use to grab Aydar Suniev this summer. Following up on 54 goals in 65 games in Penticton of the BCHL last year, Suniev is starring as a freshman at UMass-Amherst, where he has seven goals and 12 points in 15 games as the league’s reigning rookie of the week.
Less than half a season in, it’s tough to classify the trade as anything but a rare win-win for both clubs.
Does he worry about who won the trade?
“No,” said Sharangovich before breaking into a grin.
“It’s not my job.”
Neither was sending a lucky couple to Nevada, but he managed to pull it off anyway.
