Flames rally past Panthers for fourth win in row

CALGARY --Michael Frolik had a goal and two assists to lift the Calgary Flames to their fourth straight win, 4-3 against the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.

Mark Giordano, Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan scored, and David Rittich made 24 saves for the Flames (29-13-4), who are 7-1-1 in their past nine games.
"We've won four in a row right now, that's definitely a positive," Tkachuk said. "We're finding ways to win, but we're not near where we can be at, and that's very encouraging."
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Flames highlights]
Mike Hoffman, Jonathan Huberdeau and Evgenii Dadonov scored, and Roberto Luongo made 20 saves for the Panthers (17-18-8), who have lost five in a row (0-3-2).
"It's tough," Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. "You never want to lose. We need to believe in each other and get that one win and start feeling good and we'll be fine."
Calgary scored four straight goals after trailing 2-0 early in the second period.
Frolik redirected Mikael Backlund's pass to cut it to 2-1 at 10:14 of the second period, and Giordano tied it 2-2 at 15:10 when he took a pass from Frolik and scored short side from the left point.

"We changed the lines a little bit going into the second period and it kind of worked," said Frolik, who started the game on the fourth line before being promoted to play with Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund on the second line to start the second period.
Tkachuk put the Flames ahead 3-2 at 8:29 of the third period. Following a turnover by Huberdeau in the Panthers zone, Frolik passed to Tkachuk, who scored five-hole on Luongo.
"Big goal to get us within one goal, and then he made a great pass to [Giordano], and then he made an awesome pass to me," Tkachuk said. "I don't know how he saw me. I was just hiding in the weeds back there and he made a great play to me."
Frolik has eight points (four goals, four assists) in seven games since he was a healthy scratch against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 29.

"Everybody can tell you when you score, it's one of the best feelings," Frolik said. "When you can help the team, it's the best feeling ever. When it happens, I get excited. Maybe a little bit too much."
Monahan scored into an empty net on the power play at 18:33 to extend the lead to 4-2, and Dadonov scored with Luongo pulled for an extra skater to make it 4-3 at 19:40.
Hoffman gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 6:18 of the first period on a turnaround in front after Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin turned the puck over behind Calgary's net.

Huberdeau scored 20 seconds into the second period on a power play to make it 2-0, taking a stretch pass from Keith Yandle and converting on a breakaway.
"They're a good hockey team over there, made a good push in the second part of the second period," Hoffman said. "We weren't going to dominate them for an entire game. That's just how things work. The team that makes the most mistakes usually loses. There was just one too many and they capitalized. We weren't able to get a few in the third."

They said it

"Give their goalie (David Rittich) some credit. He made some big saves. But even when it's a one-goal game at the end we had a flat out 2-on-1 and we're shooting from the slot. We had our looks. We just didn't bury on some of our chances which could've been the difference." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
"We haven't played well here for a while and it's been masked by the fact we've got wins. But we haven't played well." -- Flames coach Bill Peters

Need to know

Calgary leads the NHL with 69 goals in the third period. … Florida has been outscored 56-38 in the third period this season. ... Tkachuk has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in the past seven games. … Monahan has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in the past seven games. … Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (seven goals, nine assists).

What's next

Panthers: At the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Flames:Host the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN1, FS-A, NHL.TV)