CALGARY — After a tough start to the season, a dietary change has Yegor Sharangovich tasting success again.
Sharangovich scored twice including the game-winner on Sunday night as the Calgary Flames kept their playoff hopes alive with a 5-2 NHL victory over the San Jose Sharks.
After leading the club with 31 goals a year ago, Sharangovich was stuck at 12 through 62 games when coach Ryan Huska made him a healthy scratch on March 27.
Since the one-game absence, he's got five goals in nine games including a three-game goal streak that has him up to 17 on the season.
“I feel when he's playing the way he is now, that anytime the puck is on his stick, he's got the ability to score, he's got the ability to make a play, that can change a game and tonight he did that,” Huska said.
Interestingly, the turnaround goes back to a change last month in which he switched from chicken and pasta to salmon and risotto for his pre-game meal.
“My wife told me that you should try something different, and I tried it once and it worked, so now I keep it,” said Sharangovich, with a smile.
Huska said the willingness to try anything to break a slump shows how much the player cares.
“A lot of players won't show you that they're having a tough go when they're not playing to their expectations for whatever reason,” said Huska. “That's a care thing, like I've got to do whatever I can do to get myself back on track. So if he went to salmon and risotto, then he should stay with salmon and risotto.”
MacKenzie Weegar says when you change something in your routine and it works, you keep doing it.
“He's confident right now,” said the Flames veteran defenceman.
“When you change something like that, actually, for a hockey player, it does go a long way,” said Weegar. “So now he's got that in his routine. It might have changed something mentally for him, but he's flying right now.
“He's got lots of confidence and it seems like he's having a lot more fun out there. He's looser, he's talking a little bit more, it's the Yegor from last year that is getting timely goals for so it's nice to see.”
Weegar's goal was also timely, evening the score 1-1 midway through the first period after Calgary got off to a terrible start getting outshot 8-0 and falling behind 1-0 less than four minutes into the game.
Tied 2-2 heading to the third and with the season on the line, Sharangovich scored 90 seconds in on a set-up from Morgan Frost.
“We just feel good and we keep the belief that we can make the playoffs and just keep doing our job and winning the games,” said Sharangovich, who surpasses the 100-goal mark for his career, becoming the third skater of Belarussian descent to do so. The other two are Mikhail Grabovski (125) and Andrei Kostitsyn (103).
“It's a resilient group, man. It's a special group in here, and everybody's in it together,' said Weegar. “Everybody's stepping up right now and it's a perfect time of year to step up.”
With two games remaining, the Flames move to within two points of St. Louis and three points of Minnesota, who occupy the two wild card spots in the Western Conference. Calgary holds one game in hand on both, but does not own the tie-breaker with either.
All three teams are next in action on Tuesday at home. The Flames play Vegas, the Blues face Utah, and the Wild take on Anaheim..
Calgary's last game is in Los Angeles on Thursday.
“Whatever the situation is, they're not throwing a towel in if we're down, if we're.up, we're going to continue to grind. I like the way they're playing right now,” said Huska. “I just feel like that belief that they built over the course of the year is at its strongest right now.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2025.
Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press
