After mutually rough Wednesday nights, the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers look for better results in Friday afternoon’s matchup.
On the second stop of its five-game road trip, Calgary could not withstand an offensive onslaught by the Tampa Bay Lightning. They netted four goals in the first 10:01 to improve their record to 14-5-2 in the past 21 games.
Flames forward Mikael Backlund knew it would be tough coming to downtown Tampa and playing the sizzling Lightning.
Backlund, tied for fourth on the Flames with 13 points (four goals, nine assists), said the Flames could not overcome Tampa Bay’s attack as the Lightning scored three times on four shots against goaltender Dustin Wolf.
“It’s never easy against a team on a heater,” Backlund said. “They came out a lot harder than we did. They’re a good first-period team, especially in this building. They put us right on our heels, and we couldn’t respond.”
An interesting decision for coach Ryan Huska will be who starts against the Panthers.
Wolf, the team’s No. 1 goalie, played only 5:52 before being pulled — close to being a night off. Backup Devin Cooley (2-2-1, 1.86 goals-against average, .930 save percentage) stopped 17 of 19 shots.
Calgary is 1-1-0 on its five-game road trip.
In outplaying the Philadelphia Flyers early on Wednesday, Florida fought hard for a two-goal lead. But the visitors rallied with four straight tallies, including the game-winner and insurance tally in the final minute, to escape with a 4-2 victory.
Florida coach Paul Maurice called out his team afterward, citing the lack of speed as the Flyers took control.
“I thought we were slow with the puck,” Maurice assessed. “I think they got in on some pucks. We were just late to some loose pucks that were laying around, and they maintained that control.”
Florida’s Brad Marchand opened the scoring with his team-leading 14th goal, giving the 37-year-old left wing 26 points in 22 games.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champs are 5-3-0 in their past eight and will play the next five on home ice in Sunrise.
The Panthers have fought against weak spells of offense and porous defense without forwards Aleksander Barkov, Tomas Nosek and Matthew Tkachuk. The club also has lost defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to a lengthy injury.
However, Tkachuk, sidelined after adductor/sports hernia surgery in August, skated last week for the first time since the Panthers won their second Stanley Cup over the Edmonton Oilers in June.
“I’m just excited to get out with the boys,” Tkachuk said. “I don’t know when that’s going to be, but it’s obviously kind of getting over that hump and sooner rather than later. It’s starting to trend really, really well.”
The two-time All-Star has played a key role in a culture shift that has led Florida to three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances.
The Panthers acquired him from the Flames in a July 2022 trade that sent Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and a first-round pick to the Pacific Division club.
The gritty Tkachuk, 27, missed the final 25 games last season but returned in the playoffs to help spark another championship run.
“He’s still quite a way away, but he’s back on the ice and he wasn’t two weeks ago,” Maurice said. “So we’re taking it.”
