The Flames got a stellar effort from Dustin Wolf, but fell to 1-1-0 on their season-long, six-game road swing after being defeated 3-0 by the Lightning in Tampa Bay.
Nikita Kucherov's powerplay marker stood up as the game-winner, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves for the Lightning.
Wolf needed to make saves in the first period, and he did, stoning Brandon Hagel on a clear-cut breakaway inside the five-minute mark, asnd denying Brayden Point and Kucherov with blocker and trapper stops, respectively.
And he got help from his skaters, too, on a pair of Lightning odd-man rushes.
Nazem Kadri tracked back beautifully, kneeling in the slot to get stick to puck on an Anthony Cirelli cross-crease feed at the seven-minute mark.
Then Joel Hanley broke up a 3-on-1 rush with some deft stickwork a few minutes later, adding an accent to his shift with a bone-rattling hit on Cirelli in the neutral zone.
But Kucherov had the last laugh in period one, opening the scoring on a powerplay in the final minute when his centring pass caromed off a skate, and past Wolf.
Calgary's best chance of the second period came just past the one-minute mark. A point shot bounced to Jonathan Huberdeau in the left circle, and he unleashed it quickly, only to be foiled by Vasilevskiy's right pad with to a quick-reaction save.
Ryan Lomberg had a breakaway chance at the midway mark of the second period but his snapshot went begging after he was sprung in alone on Vasilevskiy.
Erik Cernak extended Tampa Bay's lead with a shot from the right circle 3:51 into the third period.
Hagel iced the game with an empty-netter with just under three minutes left on the clock.
The line of Huberdeau, Kadri and Matt Coronato led the way offensively for the Flames with 11 shots on goal, five off the stick of Huberdeau alone.
Wolf made 20 saves in goal for Calgary.
