The Florida Panthers (36-21-3) will host old pals Ryan Lomberg, Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and the rest of Calgary Flames (28-22-8) this afternoon at Amerant Bank Arena in tilt number two of a five-game homestand.
On Thursday, the Panthers took care of Alberta’s other NHL team by getting third period goals from Nate Schmidt and Carter Verhaeghe to defeat the Edmonton Oilers by a 4-3 count. First Star Anton Lundell produced a season-high three points and became the fifth Panther this season to reach the 40-point plateau. Uvis Balinskis scored the game-opening goal and Sergei Bobrovksy made 24 saves to post his 24th win.
While the Panthers were beating the Oilers, the Flames got blanked 3-0 by Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second contest of a six-game road trip that opened with an impressive 3-1 win over Eastern Conference-leading Washington. Dustin Wolf made 19 saves and was named the game’s Third Star, but the Calder Trophy candidate was done in by a lack of goal support. This has been an ongoing issue as Calgary’s offense ranks 29th in the league. The Flames are currently one point out of a playoff spot.
- WHEN: 3 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #Flames, #CGYvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Flame Nation
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 2 (0-1)
- LAST MEETING: @CGY 3, FLA 0 (Recap) – 12/14/2024
- NEXT MEETING: Stanley Cup Final or 2025-26 season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (24-13-2 .902 / 2.66 2SO) Calgary: Vladar (8-10-5 .891 / 2.98 2SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Calgary
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- TAMPA BAY 3, Washington 1
- BOSTON (27-25-8 62P) at Pittsburgh (24-28-9 57P) 3 p.m. (ABC)
- DETROIT (30-23-6 66P) at Columbus (29-22-8 66P) 6 p.m.
- MONTREAL (28-26-5 61P) at BUFFALO (24-28-5 53P) 7 p.m.
- San Jose (15-36-9 39P) at OTTAWA (29-25-4 62P) 7 p.m.
Idle: TOR (76P)