The Florida Panthers’ next stop on their five-game western road trip comes Saturday when the defending Stanley Cup champions visit Calgary to face off against the Flames.
Both teams will look to come back from dismal performances in their previous games. The Flames lost at home Thursday 8-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Panthers dropped a 4-0 decision in Vancouver to the Canucks.
After practice Friday, Calgary coach Ryan Huska told reporters the loss to the Lightning was “uncharacteristic” for his team, which is 1-2-1 in its last four contests.
Having the defending champions come to town should sharpen his team’s focus, Huska said.
“I mean, those are the nights you want to play in,” he added. “So, you get them one time in our building. They’re a very good team. There’s a lot of guys on that team that know each other. So, it always makes for a fun night.”
Jonathan Huberdeau leads the Flames with 11 goals and 21 points. The left wing enters Saturday with a six-game point streak (four goals, five assists), including a goal and an assist apiece in each of the last two games.
Saturday’s game is the second in a five-game homestand for the Flames that will take the team into the holiday break. Entering Friday, the Flames were a point behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Earlier Friday, the Flames promoted goalie Devin Cooley from the Calgary Wranglers, its AHL affiliate. That was in response to Dan Vladar, who suffered a lower-body injury in Thursday’s loss.
Florida saw its seven-game points streak (6-0-1) end Thursday against the Canucks. In absorbing their first shutout of the season, the Panthers outshot Vancouver 27-19, but the visitors gave away the puck 19 times.
Three of Vancouver’s goals came thanks to rushes, something Panthers coach Paul Maurice said cannot happen.
“It’s very difficult to defend off a turnover because you’re in an attack position,” Maurice said, per NHL.com. “Then, when you do turn the puck over, it’s very difficult to get to a defensive position.”
The loss broke a four-game winning streak for Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (13-6-1, 2.87 goals-against average), who has only lost consecutive starts only once this season.
Florida, which is tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the lead in the Atlantic Division, ranks fifth in the league, averaging 3.53 goals per game. Their top three skaters — center Sam Reinhart (19 goals and 20 assists for 39 points), Matthew Tkachuk (30 points with 10 goals) and Aleksander Barkov (29 points with 20 assists) — all average more than a point per game. Barkov saw a seven-game point streak end in Thursday’s loss.
Tkachuk, who played his first six seasons in Calgary, has a goal and three assists in four games against his old team.
The Flames will look to stay out of the penalty box against one of the league’s top teams on the power play. Florida is tied with Carolina for the fourth-most power play goals, 26, and no team has allowed more than the Flames’ 27 goals when down a man, and their 70.7 percent kill rate is the fourth worst in the league.
–Field Level Media