FLAMES FALL IN FLORIDA

It was a mid-season battle between two of the best sides in the league to this point.
A pair of teams that play a skilled, fast, heavy, and physical game.

NEED-TO-KNOW
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Game Over with Brendan Parker
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COMING SOON: Say What - Post-Game Quotes
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The Flames came into the night second in league goal differential, sporting an impressive +31 mark. The Panthers were fifth at +27.
Calgary had the best road record at 13-4-2, with the eighth-best points percentage (.667).
Florida was the No.-1 home team in the NHL at 17-3-0, sitting second in the NHL (.719).
There were plenty of offensive chances to go around in a back-and-forth affair (49 shots for Calgary, 45 for Florida), the Cats scoring a pair of powerplay goals and converting on more of their chances en route to a 6-2 victory in Sunrise, Fla, on Tuesday night.
Johnny Gaudreau continued his torrid scoring streak for the Flames, while Blake Coleman also tallied and had a career-high 12 shots. Jacob Markstrom was busy and put in a great performance making 39 saves.
Sergei Bobrovsky was dialled in at the other end of the ice, stopping 47 of the pucks he faced.
The Panthers got an early powerplay at 4:42 when Noah Hanifin was whistled for a hook on Gustav Forsling, who had tried to split the Calgary defence on a breakout.
Just past the midway point of the advantage, Chris Tanev tried to clear a puck from in front of the net but Patric Hornqvist smacked it in.
Matthew Tkachuk sprung Gaudreau with a beautiful stretch pass and No. 13 hit the jets to pull away from two defenders and snap his 14th of the season glove-high past Bobrovsky 1:05 later to tie it up.
Gaudreau came into the tilt riding a 10-game point streak on the road after back-to-back three-point performances in the team's last two victories over Seattle and Chicago. He's now notched a point in all but three road games this season.

Then it was Markstrom's turn to shine when Frank Vatrano got sent in alone in a similar-looking play, but the Calgary 'tender flashed the leather.
Coleman made it 2-1 at the 10:04 mark, gathering a puck behind the Florida net and then skating out and squeezing a sharp-angle shot home between the post and Bobrovsky's blocker.

A point shot from Forsling was deflected by Anthony Duclair through a maze of bodies in front of Markstrom to tie things up at 13:01.
The homeside then took the lead with 1:09 left in the first - their second powerplay marker of the frame - when Joe Thornton, all alone in front, tipped Brandon Montour's wrister from the blueline.
The Flames held a 19-11 edge in scoring chances after one period but the Panthers kicked it up a notch in the second, Calgary's edge in that category 32-30 after 40 minutes.
The middle stanza was a track meet with a plethora of chances at both ends of the ice, Markstrom standing tall with some massive 10-bell saves as the Panthers piled up 21 shots, a season high against in one period for the Flames.
Maxim Mamin broke up a Flames rush in his zone and then skated the length of the ice weaving between Calgary players to get a shot that Markstrom made a tough stop on.
Moments later, Coleman came off the bench for a breakaway and tried a backhand but couldn't slide it under Bobrovsky.
Former Flame Ryan Lomberg made it a two-goal lead for Florida with just 16 seconds left when he skated down the right wing boards and snapped a wrister home.
The Flames came out flying in the third with a pair of good chances in the first minute-and-a-half of the frame, first Tkachuk toe-dragging around a defender and then stoned in tight, followed by Kylington pinching in from the point to the high slot where his backhand went off the post.
Calgary got their first powerplay at 1:56, a Gaudreau rush into the zone which was stopped by Bobrovsky the best chance on the man-up.
Hornqvist scored his second of the night at 5:47 and Lucas Carlsson added another at 13:04 to round out the scoring.

THEY SAID IT:

Tkachuk on the result:
"I think that they're one of the best teams in the league that we've played. We know that we can play a lot better than we played tonight and if we (do), there can be a different result. ... I think it was a little bit of a reality check. That's a measuring stick-type of game and obviously we didn't measure up very well today. But I think there's no greater challenge for us than to play the defending champs for two straight years and there's no excuse not to get up for that one, so we've got to be ready for it."

Head Coach Darryl Sutter's thoughts:
"That's the way that team plays. That's a different level of team than we've played lately. That's a team that's built for playoff hockey. They've got some guys that challenged us individually."

BY THE NUMBERS:

Shots: CGY 49, FLA 45
Powerplay:CGY 0-2, FLA 2-3
Hits:CGY 29, FLA 39
Face-offs: CGY 45%, FLA 55%
\Scoring chances: CGY 45, FLA 38
\High-danger scoring chances:CGY 19, FLA 16
\According of Natural Stat Trick (5-on-5)*

ONE-TIMERS:

This is the first of two matchups this season between the Flames and Panthers. These two teams last played on March 1, 2020 where the Flames shutout the Panthers 3-0 in Florida. ... The Flames are now 4-3-1 against the Atlantic Division and 12-3-3 against Eastern Conference opponents ... Jacob Markstrom was drafted in the second round, 31st overall by the Panthers in the 2008 draft. Markstrom played in 43 games for the Panthers over four seasons from 2010-11 to 2013-14 before being dealt to the Vancouver Canucks on March 4, 2014 ... Andrew Mangiapane is two points away from 100 ... Elias Lindholm is five points away from 400.

THE LINEUP:

Trios and D-pairings to start the tilt:
Lines
Johnny Gaudreau - Elias Lindholm - Matthew Tkachuk
Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Tyler Pitlick
Milan Lucic - Dillon Dube - Andrew Mangiapane
Brett Ritchie - Sean Monahan - Trevor Lewis
Pairings
Oliver Kylington - Chris Tanev
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Nikita Zadorov - Erik Gudbranson
Goaltender
Jacob Markstrom - starter
Dan Vladar

UP NEXT:

The Flames have a back-to-back with the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Thursday and the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Friday.