The Florida Panthers problems at Scotiabank Saddledome continued as they were blanked 3-0 by Dustin Wolf and the Calgary Flames.
Florida has not won in Calgary since Februray 17, 2018, and haven’t scored a goal since Aleksander Barkov lit the lamp late in the second period of Tuesday’s 2-1 shootout win over Seattle.
Nazem Kadri opened the scoring 8:57 into the first when he stole the puck from Dmitry Kulikov following an Anton Lundell faceoff win, moved in on and deked Spencer Knight, then slid the puck in along the ice for his 11th goal of the season.
After testing Dustin Wolf eight times in the opening frame, the Panthers put 14 shots on the rookie in the second, but could not find the back of the net.
Unfortunatley, Blake Coleman did with 55 seconds left in the period. Matt Coronato led a rush into the Panthers zone, then slid a pass to Coleman. who beat Knight five-hole to put the ham-fisted Cats into big hole heading to the third.
Mikael Backlund, who drew the seconday assist Coleman’s goal, would clinch it with the lone assist going to defenseman Kevin Bahl. Backlund solved Knight’s glove from left circle at 6:17, shortly after Wolf stopped Sam Bennett on a clean breakaway.
Wolf finished with 32 saves to post the second shutout of his young career.
The Panthers, who were missing an ill Aleksander Barkov, played a pretty solid game, but they have gone ice-cold offensively, scoring just once on this road trip. They’ll need to find some answers before facing the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night.
Tinder & Ash
- Former Panther MacKenzie Weegar played in his 500th NHL game, while his defensive partner Joel Hanley played his 200th NHL game. Double milestone.
- Aaron Ekblad and Sam Reinhart each finished with a team-high four shots. Ekblad hit the post twice and matched Mikael Backlund with a game-high four blocks.
- Dustin Wolf is 8-1 and has an NHL-leading .949 save percentage on home ice this season. He upped his overall record to 9-5-1 and lowered his GAA to 2.65.
- After rough outings in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Spencer Knight bounced back a bit, stopping 24 of 27 shots faced.
- The Panthers, who went 0-for-3 on the power play, have gone 146:01 without scoring, PoMo, we have a problem…