He made acrobatic saves, and turned in one of the best Flames goaltending performances of the season, but Dan Vladar couldn't do it alone.
The Flames fell to 1-2-0 on their season-long, six-game road trip after suffering a 3-0 defeat to the Panthers in a matinee tilt Saturday, spoiling a stellar 39-save effort from their veteran puck-stopper.
Vladar's afternoon was busy right from the drop of the puck.
Florida sent nine shots his way over the opening nine minutes, forcing a quick cover-up of a loose puck in the crease when Uvis Balinskis' shot from the left wing wriggled its way loose from the Calgary netminder and inched toward the line.
He got just enough of Eetu Luostarinen's re-direct on a short-handed 2-on-1 rush later in the period, pushing the puck past his left post with his glove hand.
At the other end, Mikael Backlund came close to putting the visitors on the board midway through period one, after he was sprung in alone on goal after a silky entry pass from linemate Blake Coleman at the Panthers blueline. He followed his low shot into the crease, but Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky was equal to the task.
Vladar stoned Carter Verhaeghe a minute into the second period, then robbed Nate Schmidt of a sure goal at the 4:30 mark, kicking out his pad to deny a back-door opportunity.
