Tkachuk scores two goals for Flames in shootout win against Panthers

CALGARY -- Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals, and Sean Monahan had the shootout winner for the Calgary Flames in a 6-5 victory against the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.

"We're lucky," Tkachuk said. "That's obviously a big two points, but we don't want to get comfortable in games like that. We've got a two-goal lead in the third, you have to put it away. You think back to one of those games, those are the ones that cost us last year in the playoffs."
Mark Giordano, Sam Bennett and Austin Czarnik also scored for the Flames (6-5-1), who are 4-2-0 in the past six games. David Rittich made 18 saves.
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Flames highlights]
"We know we have to clean up a lot of areas," Giordano said. "We'll take the two points now but definitely some things we'll have to go over again and clean up."
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, Aleksander Barkov had four assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for the Panthers (4-2-4), who extended their point streak to seven games (3-0-4).

Monahan and Tkachuk each scored in the shootout, and Rittich stopped Huberdeau and Barkov.
"You want to squeeze out every point you can, and when you come back the way we did from a 4-2 deficit, you try to find the positive in that," Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "We're getting points on the road, we've got to keep putting them in the bank and try to get a couple wins here to make it a successful road trip."
Tkachuk redirected Michael Frolik's pass on a 2-on-1 to give Calgary a 3-2 lead 32 seconds into the third period, and Giordano made it 4-2 at 5:16.
Josh Brown scored his first goal of the season on a slap shot through traffic to cut Calgary's lead to 4-3 at 6:20, and Evgenii Dadonov tied it 4-4 at 8:41 when he tapped in Huberdeau's pass on a 2-on-1.
"It just seemed like when it was 4-2 they were pressing and we had no answer for them," Tkachuk said. "Maybe a little sloppy with our puck play, and stuff like that. You learn from it. For our team to be successful we're not going to win those 6-5 [games], trying to come back after being [down] … that's a stressful game."
Mark Pysyk put Florida up 5-4 at 14:59, and Bennett tied it 5-5 at 17:17.
"It's a high-scoring game so it's obviously tough for goalies," Bobrovsky said. "Lots of scoring chances, not many shots, but all of them pretty much scoring chances."
Czarnik scored on the power play to put Calgary up 1-0 at 11:43 of the first period when his pass to Rasmus Andersson deflected in off Ekblad's skate.
Huberdeau tied it 1-1 4:28 into the second period. TJ Brodie turned the puck over in the neutral zone before Huberdeau shot over Rittich's shoulder off the rush.
Tkachuk made it 2-1 when he took a return pass from Frolik and shot short side at 11:59.
"I think in big games [Tkachuk] is always going to be there," Giordano said. "You always want the puck on his stick, it seems, in high-pressure situations. He makes plays under pressure. That's what makes him so good, no different from tonight. He made a couple great plays offensively that helped us score goals."
MacKenzie Weegar tied it 2-2 with a wrist shot from the high slot at 15:15.

They said it

"There's times where it's too loose out there, to be honest. It feels too much like a turnover-fest. (At) 4-2 in the third, you're in a good spot. I didn't necessarily like to give them three, but it's pretty resilient by our group to come back and get those two points." -- Flames captain Mark Giordano

"We have a lot of resiliency, we're not going to shut it down and take a loss. We battled back, we've got some great character players on this team." -- Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad

Need to know

Czarnik, who has two goals and one assist during a three-game point streak, left the game late in the second period with a lower-body injury. … Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane has four points (two goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak. … Barkov has nine assists in the past five games. … Huberdeau has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the past nine games and at least one point in eight of those games. …Ekblad played his 400th NHL game.

What's next

Panthers:At the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (4 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Flames: Against the Winnipeg Jets in the 2019 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic in Regina, Saskatchewan, on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN1, CITY, TVAS2, NHL.TV)