Flames defeat Panthers in shootout in Huberdeau's return

SUNRISE, Fla. --Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the shootout to help the Calgary Flames defeat the Florida Panthers 5-4 in his return to FLA Live Arena on Saturday.

Huberdeau, the Panthers' all-time scoring leader with 613 points, was acquired by Calgary in a trade for forward Matthew Tkachuk and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar on July 22.
"It was good," Huberdeau said. "Obviously here, obviously wanted to win, too, so yeah, it was big getting the goal in the shootout here. That was cool."

Adam Ruzicka had two goals and an assist, and Nikita Zadorov had a goal and an assist for the Flames (8-7-2). Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves.
"It was a good game," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. "We fought back through a lot of adversity during the game."
Rasmus Andersson scored in the fifth round of the shootout to win the game for the Flames.
"It's kind of a move I've done for quite some time, and I took a few shootouts in Stockton (of the American Hockey League), and it worked back then," Andersson said. "It was a long time ago. It was nice to see it gone in, but honestly, it was just nice to get a win. It was a much-needed one."

Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, Sam Bennett had two assists, and Spencer Knight made 31 saves for the Panthers (9-7-2), who have lost three of four.
Tkachuk tied the game 4-4 at 13:46 of the third period when he deflected Bennett's slap shot from the top of the right circle.
"It felt good to get it to overtime," Tkachuk said. "It felt like we were dominating them, yet it was somehow 4-3. They came out and played solid, didn't give us much, but then we took over in the second period. It seemed like they were hanging on a little in the third, but they had some looks as well. It was back-and-forth in the third a little bit more than we would have liked."

Ruzicka gave Calgary a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 15:13 of the first.
"Need him to score, need him to contribute both ends of the ice," Sutter said. "Did a good job. The line's (Ruzicka, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli) been really good for us."
Zadorov scored 50 seconds into the second period to make it 2-0. His long wrist shot went past Tkachuk as the forward slid in front of Knight to try to block the shot.
Colin White cut it to 2-1 at 3:30 on a wraparound after blocking Markstrom's clearing attempt behind the net.

Sam Reinhart tied it 2-2 at 10:56 with a one-timer on a power play off a beautiful passing play with Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov.
Ruzicka restored Calgary to a 3-2 lead at 12:58, but Eetu Luostarinen tied it 3-3 at 1:12 of the third.
Blake Coleman put the Flames back in front 4-3 at 6:56 of the third. Huberdeau started the play when he forced a turnover in Florida's zone with a body check on Aaron Ekblad.
"This was sort of a tight, even game where I did not think one team had a long stretch of dominance," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "It was a pretty tentative start in the first, but we got going in the second. It is one of those games that, 20 years ago, would have ended in a tie, and you would have thought that was right."
NOTES: Huberdeau and Barkov, who played together in Florida for nine seasons, passed each other the puck at the end of warmups. "The warmups were a little emotional," Barkov said. "It was hard to hear those two guys weren't going to be here anymore in the summer. Now you see them on the other side, and you realize they're not here. I hope they are happy there, and we turned the page a long time ago. I am happy with this team, happy with everyone here, but I am happy for them." … Weegar played 16:25. … Lindholm had two assists.