The Florida Panthers (43-17-4) will look to get back in the win column win they play host to the Calgary Flames (31-26-5) in an early bird special from Amerant Bank Arena. Florida had both its six-game winning streak and six-game winning streak on home ice snapped in a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday in Vladimir Tarasenko’s first outing with the team. Gustav Forsling celebrated his new contract extension by scoring Florida’s only goal in the second period. On deadline day, the Cats added more depth by acquiring Kyle Okposo from the Buffalo Sabres for prospect Calle Sjalin and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2024; claiming defensemam Tobias Bjornfot, who was waived by the dreaded Vegas Golden Knights; and swapping AHL goalies with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Magnus Hellberg joins the Panthers organization, while Ludovic Waeber and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2027 went to Pittsburgh.
After dealing defenseman Noah Hanifin to the Golden Knights in exchange for blueliner Daniil Miromanov, a conditonal first-round pick and a conditional third-round draft in 2025, in a three-team trade that also involved the Flyers on Wednesday; Calgary swapped Emilio Pettersen for Riley Damiani (both forwards) in trade with the Dallas Stars on Thursday; and then acquired defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk for a fifth-round pick this summer from the San Jose Sharks yesterday. The Flames are coming off an impressive 6-3 victory over Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, and have won six of their last seven games. Calgary’s recent hot streak has them six points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
- WHEN: 4 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida
- ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #Flames, #CGYvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Red Mile Hockey
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 2 of 2 (0-1)
- LAST MEETING: @CGY 3, FLA 1 – (Recap) 12/18/2023
- NEXT MEETING: Stanley Cup Final or 2024-25 regular season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Stolarz (12-5-2 .921 / 2.07 1SO) / Calgary: Markstrom (22-16-2 .911 / 2.62 2SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Calgary
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- Edmonton (38-21-2 78P) at BUFFALO (29-305 63P) 12:30 p.m.
- Pittsburgh (28-25-8 64P) at BOSTON (37-13-15 89P) 3 p.m. (ABC, ESPN+)
- TORONTO (36-19-8 80P) at MONTREAL (24-29-10 58P) 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
- OTTAWA (25-32-4 54P) at San Jose (15-40-7 37P) 7 p.m.
- Philadelphia (33-23-8 74P) at TAMPA BAY (33-25-6 72P) 7 p.m.
- DETROIT (33-24-6 72P) at Vegas (33-23-7 73P) 10 p.m.