The second period came and went without a goal for either squad. Still, the Panthers had their fair share of opportunities to light the lamp. Rarely relinquishing the puck, they led the Flames in shot attempts (24-10) and scoring chances (13-6) at 5-on-5 in the period.
When the Flames did threaten, Stolarz was there to make the save.
Despite the Panthers being on the power play, Calgary took the lead in the third period when Mikael Backlund beat Stolarz on a shorthanded breakaway to make it 2-1 at 3:31.
“I think it was a game where there wasn’t much going around the net both ways,” Reinhart said. “We just made a mistake before them. It’s unfortunate that it cost us.”
With 2:13 left in regulation, the Panthers were put a prime position to tie the game after Calgary sent the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty. But after pulling Stolarz for a 6-on-4 advantage, the Flames were the ones that ended up capitalizing.
After he intercepted a pass at the blue line, Blake Coleman was tripped on a breakaway while charging toward Florida’s empty net, which resulted in an automatic goal that gave Calgary a 3-1 lead at 18:27.
“We’re still learning how to do it,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “We’ve started to work pretty well in offensive zone time, a good thing. We got a little behind today. I think for the fifth game of a trip, the first 40 minutes we were really happy with. A shorthanded goal sets you back. It just does. Then we’re chasing it after that.”
Making his first start since Dec. 2, Jacob Markstrom, who had missed time due to a finger injury, finished with 33 saves for the Flames, including four high-danger stops.
“We couldn’t get in front of his eyes, so he saw a lot of shots,” said Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who skated in his 900th NHL game. “He’s a good goalie. He stopped all the chances that we had for [the final] two periods.”
THEY SAID IT
“You’re excited about the opportunity. You’ve scored one in the game, and we haven’t scored a lot this year, so we were pretty fired up with it. We generated maybe one [scoring chance] before they scored. It’s your opportunity in tight games on the road. You’re looking for your power play to be the difference. Tonight, it struggled a little bit.” – Paul Maurice on Calgary’s shorthanded goal
“I’ve played a lot of games, have had a lot of good teammates, good memories. I think I’ve evolved as a player over those 900 games. Of course, not without help from the support of family, friends, all the coaching staffs, the medical guys and equipment guys. Yeah, just a lot of good memories.” – Dmitry Kulikov on hitting 900 games in the NHL
CATS STATS
- Sam Reinhart is the eighth player in franchise history to score 40 power-play goals.
- Florida led 2.34-1.42 in expected goals, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
- The Panthers led 13-2 in shot attempts when Dmitry Kulikov was on the ice at 5-on-5.
- Sam Bennett fired off a team-high five shots on goal.
- The Panthers went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Cats will be home for the holidays.
With their longest road trip of the season in the books, the Panthers will now head back to South Florida to host the St. Louis Blues at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
For tickets, click here.
