Cooley makes 37 saves for Flames in win against Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Devin Cooley made 37 saves after allowing goals on the first two shots he faced, and the Calgary Flames rallied to defeat the Florida Panthers 5-3 at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday.

Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, and Joel Farabee had a goal and an assist for the Flames (9-14-3), who won for the fourth time in five games.

Yan Kuznetsov scored his first NHL goal, and Rasmus Andersson had two assists. MacKenzie Weegar also scored for Calgary, which got its second multigoal comeback win of the season and first since defeating the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in overtime in its first game of the season on Oct. 8.

"It was a really gutsy win, a lot of perseverance from our group," Kuznetsov said. "We have to start having better starts to the game, but to come back from a two-goal deficit and win this game is huge, especially against such a good team."

Brad Marchand, Evan Rodrigues, and Sam Bennett scored for the Panthers (12-11-1), who have lost three of four. Sam Reinhart had two assists.

Daniil Tarasov made 29 saves for Florida, which has lost consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 16 and 18.

"When you score two (quick goals) like that, I think you think you're just going to generate all you want," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "When that doesn't happen, some frustration comes into your game. We didn't move the puck very easily but the expectation that we should is not realistic."

Florida took a 1-0 lead 54 seconds into the game after Calgary forward Jonathan Huberdeau turned the puck over in his own zone. Reinhart intercepted it and got it to Rodrigues, who scored on the rush.

Bennett made it 2-0 at 2:58 of the first with the Panthers' second shot of the game. The Flames scored the next four goals to take a 4-2 lead.

Kuznetsov, playing his 13th NHL game, made it 2-1 at 5:35, sending a point shot through the legs of defenseman Seth Jones that went past Tarasov.

Weegar tied it 2-2 at 10:41 on a point shot from outside the right circle.

"I thought our game got better," Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. "When Kuznetsov scored that goal for us, I thought it shifted some of the momentum in our favor. Then we had another great offensive-zone shift and got another goal from a defenseman."

It was the first goal of the season for Weegar, who was drafted by the Panthers and played six seasons with them before being traded to the Flames as part of the Matthew Tkachuk deal in 2022.

"The turning point was definitely [Kuznetsov's] goal. That was big for our team and slowed their momentum down," Weegar said. "… I thought 'Kuzy' did a great job, super happy for him, and proud of him. That's definitely what sparked our comeback."

Calgary took a 3-2 lead 55 seconds into the second period on a two-man advantage when Morgan Frost got to a rebound in front of the net that Tarasov could not handle.

"I can't take a 5-on-3 penalty there, so that obviously changed something," said defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who committed a tripping penalty after A.J. Greer had been called for holding.

Kadri deflected a shot from Andersson past Tarasov at 18:44 for a 4-2 lead.

"Giving up two (goals) right away, it definitely could have gone one of two ways," Kadri said. "Proud of our group. We didn't fold, kept fighting back and ended up scoring some big goals."

The Panthers pulled within 4-3 when Marchand scored at 11:54 of the third.

"We slowed down a little bit after we got a little comfortable in the game and they made a good push," Bennett said. "We were a little slow tonight. You know our team is always going to fight until the end. We have that character in the room to do that, but we came up just a little short."

Farabee scored an empty-net goal at 18:57 for the 5-3 final.

"I think we played a pretty solid 60 minutes especially being on the road against a great team," Kadri said. "We'll take that."

NOTES: Farabee scored his 100th NHL goal to become the fourth player from the 2018 NHL Draft class to reach the milestone, joining Brady Tkachuk (191), Andrei Svechnikov (158), and Yegor Sharangovich (104). … Reinhart had his seven-game point streak end in a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday but has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past nine games. … Andersson has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past six road games.