5 Things - Flames @ Panthers

1. On The Prowl

When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna stake my claim

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen knew their fair share about 'Black Friday' in the mid-70s, but fast-forward to 2025, and it's the Flames who hope their claims will be staked amid the Florida humidity at Amerant Bank Arena.

While shoppers take advantage of holiday deals at the expansive outlet mall across the street, the Flames have an eye on making their opponents pay full price for every inch of ice on the playing surface.

The team flew into South Florida from Tampa Thursday morning, bussing straight to the practice rink after the hour-long flight in a bid to not only get a sweat in, but reset the collective mind, body and soul after a tough outing against the Lightning.

"That's a practice day for us, and there are some things that we wanted to try to touch on before tomorrow's game," Head Coach Ryan Huska said Thursday afternoon. "There's no pre-game skate in the morning, so today was an important day for us."

"It's important, you know, we leave our last game where it was," Ryan Lomberg added. "It was a good little work day here.

"Regroup, and face the defending champs tomorrow."

The practice session started with a fair amount of powerplay puck movement. Huska pointed to his group's inability to get a goal back on a trio of man-advantage opportunities in Wednesday's first period, while also stressing the importance of creating scoring chances with pace, and crisp passing.

"Tampa's got a good penalty-kill; they have some longer players that do a really good job of pressuring, and I don't think we necessarily broke the pressure down well enough last game," the bench boss said Thursday. "And we're going to see something similar tomorrow night. These guys do a really good job as well, so when you look at how tough that first period was for us, if our powerplay would have found a way to get us one goal, maybe if we're fortunate two goals, then we're still in a game.

"So it's important for them to be able to touch pucks today and understand the pace of what they were trying to do has to be quicker."

Friday's start - and start time - also looms large. The 4 p.m. start time means everyone's prep will be a shade different than it was in Tampa on Wednesday.

But like the Lightning, Huska isn't expecting the Panthers to be forgiving at all, once that puck hits the frozen sheet at about eight past the hour.

"It's different for the players," he said. "They have to adjust their schedules a little bit tomorrow.

"but we've seen these early games before, so I'm expecting them to come out ready and anticipating a good hard game tomorrow for our guys.

2. Know Your Enemy

Florida (12-10-1, 6th Atlantic Division) comes into Friday's contest right in the thick of that Eastern Conference log-jam. Despite sitting sixth in their division, the Panthers are only five points back of first-place Tampa Bay, and two points shy of a wild-card spot.

The defending Cup champs last played Wednesday, jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but ultimately falling 4-2 on home ice to the Flyers after Tyson Foerster broke a 2-2 deadlock in the final minute of regulation time. Brad Marchand and Carter Verhaeghe scored the goals, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 14 of the 18 shots that came his way.

"We were slow in the third on plays that cost us some zone time, Florida head coach Paul Maurice told reporters after the game. "Everything came from the top. Tough one, tough way to lose a game like that.

We didn’t give up a whole lot, and I liked what we got. Just a frustrating ending, that’s all."

Marchand (26 points) and Sam Reinhart (21 points) sit 1-2 in team scoring, and they've combined for 27 of the team's 71 goals to date.

Former Flame A.J. Greer is off to a hot start as well. He's already matched his career-best with six goals on the young season (a total he first reached with Calgary during the 2023-24 campaign). He had two of those six tallies Nov. 24 in a win at Nashville.

3. Fast Facts

2025-26 Season Series

Tonight marks the first of two meetings this season between the Flames and Panthers, with the return fixture set for March 20 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

The home team ran out winners in both fixtures last season, each posting matching 3-0 shutout victories. Dustin Wolf stopped all 32 shots he faced in a 3-0 Calgary win Dec. 14 at the Scotiabank Saddledome, with Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund providing the offence.

Florida won the last meeting between the two sides Mar. 1 behind a 23-save effort from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Did You Know?

Devin Cooley has been putting up career numbers in his first handful of appearances with the Flames, and made 17 saves in relief Wednesday night in Tampa.

Entering play Friday, Cooley leads all NHL goaltenders with a 1.86 goals-against average, while his .930 save percentage is second to only Minnesota's Jesper Wallstedt, among netminders who have played seven or more games this season.

Cooley has surrendered more than two goals only once this season, despite being pressed into 30-plus save performances in four of his eight outings so far in 2025-26.

And he's improved his career NHL save percentage by 30 basis points this season, too, sitting at .900 over his 14 career NHL games.

4. Familiar Territory

There are a few Flames with connections to South Florida, including Jonathan Huberdeau, who told reporters Thursday that his brother and sister made the trip down to take in Friday's contest.

Like Huberdeau - Florida's third-overall selection in the 2011 Draft - MacKenzie Weegar started his NHL career here.

"It's always nice," he said about coming back. "I mean, not just because I played here, I think it's just because it's Florida. The weather's great.

"We obviously want a big bounce-back game, so I think that's the biggest focus."

Ryan Lomberg was part of the Panthers first Stanley Cup-winning team in 2024 - earning cult hero status here along the way - but for him, returning to Florida is just as much about the relationships as it is about the memories on the ice.

"You look past the Stanley Cups," he explained. "Some of the connections and friends that we call family now, they’re lifelong friends and family."

Forward Dryden Hunt - recalled from the Wranglers Nov. 17 - also has Florida ties. He played the first 63 games of his NHL career with the Panthers, spending parts of three seasons here between 2017-18 and 2019-20.

Assistant Coach Dave Lowry played here too. In fact, he was part of the 1996 team that went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in the Panthers' third year of existence - leading the club with 10 playoff goals - in a season that spawned the rat craze at the old Miami Arena.

Both Weegar and Huberdeau took their first-ever strides Thursday at the Panthers gleaming new Fort Lauderdale practice facility, and all three ex-Florida skaters had a bit of extra pep in their step at practice in this, their annual trip back.

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Joel Farabee

Farabee is heating up, and he's on the verge of a milestone, too.

His goal Wednesday night in Tampa was his fourth in his past four games, and it brought his career tally total to 99, too.

Farabee's six shots on goal against the Lightning also marked his largest single-game total since being acquired by the Flames last season.

Panthers - Brad Marchand

The move to South Florida has suited Marchand just fine. Acquired at the 2025 Trade Deadline after spending 16 seasons with the Bruins, Marchand helped the Panthers capture their second straight Stanley Cup last spring, putting up 10 goals and 20 points in 23 post-season games.

And he's picked up right where he left off. Marchand leads Florida with 26 points in 2025-26, and he scored his team-leading 14th goal of the campaign Wednesday against the Flyers.

Marchand recorded his 1,000th career point earlier this month, too.