Jonathan Huberdeau scored one of Calgary’s two shootout goals against his former team, and Adam Ruzicka had two goals with an assist, as the visiting Flames beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.
Huberdeau did not register a point, but teamed with Rasmus Andersson for two of the shootout’s three combined goals. It was the first time Huberdeau faced a Florida team he spent 10 seasons with since the July trade that sent him, along with defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, to Calgary for Matthew Tkachuk.
Nikita Zadorov added a goal and an assist for the Flames, who have won three of four overall and snapped an 0-3-1 road slide.
Tkachuk, meanwhile, positioned himself perfectly in front of Calgary netminder Jacob Markstrom (31 saves) to deflect in Sam Bennett’s drive to tie it at 4-4 with 6:14 remaining in regulation. Tkachuk also added an assist for the Panthers, who dropped back-to-back home games for the first time this season.
Calgary took a 3-2 lead into the third, but Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen pushed the puck past a sprawled Markstrom to tie things at 1:12 into the final frame.
However, Calgary’s Blake Coleman sent a shot through the legs of Florida’s Spencer Knight (31 saves) to give Calgary a 4-3 edge with 13:04 left in regulation.
The Flames registered the only goal of the opening period. On the power play, the puck found Ruzicka, who ripped it home with 4:47 remaining in the opener.
Then 50 seconds into the second, Ruzicka helped set up Zadorov for a 2-0 Calgary lead. However, Markstrom mishandled the puck behind his own net, and Colin White picked it up and converted the wraparound to cut Florida’s deficit in half with 16:30 to play in the second.
The Panthers tied it with 9:04 remaining in the middle period. Off some tic-tac-toe passing with Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart came through from the slot for Florida’s 11th power-play goal in 11 games.
Ruzicka, though, struck a little more than two minutes later when he one-timed the puck — off a faceoff — by a late-reacting Knight.
–Field Level Media
