CALGARY, ALBERTA · SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2026
The Calgary Flames needed a night like this, and they took it from the best team in the building. Yegor Sharangovich scored the go-ahead goal at 15:32 of the third period, Morgan Frost collected a goal and an assist in his 400th NHL game, and the Flames beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Sunday night at Scotiabank Saddledome, according to Reuters. It was Calgary's first home win of the season and just its second win overall, improving the Flames to 2-6-0 — and it snapped the defending champion Hurricanes' seven-game winning streak.
The winner was a finish worthy of the moment. With 4:28 left in a 2-2 game, Frost sent a saucer pass across the slot and Sharangovich one-timed it as soon as the puck landed on his stick, picking the top corner past goaltender Brandon Bussi and sending the water bottle flying, the Associated Press reported via theScore. Calgary had controlled the bulk of play in the final frame — the Flames held a 12-1 edge in shots over the first 10 minutes of the third period, Reuters reported — and the late goal was the reward for that pressure rather than a steal against the run of play.
Devin Cooley made 34 saves for Calgary, a handful of them in the final minutes while Carolina had its goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Reuters reported. Bussi stopped 31 shots for the Hurricanes, who fell to 7-2-1 and saw a five-game road winning streak end with the loss, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
A wild final minute of the second period
After a scoreless first period, Jesperi Kotkaniemi opened the scoring for Carolina at 6:09 of the second, pouncing on a rebound for his second goal in as many games, Reuters reported. Calgary answered late in the period. Matvei Gridin tied the game with his first goal of the season, burying a top-shelf shot from the slot with 90 seconds remaining in the middle frame after the Flames survived a long stretch in their own end, Reuters reported.
Then came the flurry. Frost gave Calgary the lead on the power play, converting a tap-in set up by Zayne Parekh with 20.9 seconds left in the period, Reuters reported — a milestone goal in his 400th NHL game, with an assist still to come on the winner. The lead lasted barely any time at all: Jalen Chatfield tied the game 2-2 with a seeing-eye point shot with four seconds remaining in the second period, his first goal of the season, according to Reuters. Two teams at opposite ends of the standings went to the second intermission even, and the game stayed that way until Sharangovich settled it late in the third.
What the win means for Calgary
Context is what makes this result stand out on a light NHL Sunday. Carolina arrived as the defending Stanley Cup champions, winners of seven straight, and played the second night of a back-to-back after a game Saturday in Winnipeg, Reuters reported. The Hurricanes were also missing forward Mark Jankowski, who was scratched shortly before warm-up with a lower-body injury after scoring in six consecutive games, according to Reuters. None of that diminishes what Calgary did with the opportunity: the Flames outshot Carolina in the decisive third period, got a power-play goal, got 34 saves from Cooley, and closed out a one-goal game against a champion that had forgotten how to lose.
For a 2-6-0 team, the standings math still looks steep, but the shape of the win matters. Calgary's goals came from three different scorers, its best players drove the finish — Frost factored on both the go-ahead goal in the second and the winner in the third — and its goaltender outlasted a late 6-on-5 push. In Sunday's other NHL action, the Wild ground out a 2-1 win over the Blue Jackets in St. Paul. Follow both teams and the rest of the league at our NHL hub and the Sports desk.
There were smaller milestones tucked inside the big one. Sharangovich led all skaters with six shots on goal, the Flames' site reported, and Matt Coronato registered an assist in his 200th career NHL game. Calgary has now won four of its last five home games against Carolina, a stretch dating back to October 22, 2022, according to the Flames. The two second-period Calgary goals came just 69 seconds apart in game terms around the intermission chaos — Gridin at 18:30 and Frost at 19:39 — before Chatfield answered four seconds before the horn, a sequence that turned a sleepy scoreless game into the night's best finish.
Up next, the Hurricanes visit Vancouver on Tuesday night, while the Flames host Minnesota on Thursday night, the Associated Press reported. Carolina's streak is over at seven; Calgary, finally, has a home win to build on — and a template for how it has to play to get the next one.
