Florida Panthers (18-10-2) at Calgary Flames (14-11-5)
When: Saturday, 8 p.m. MT, Scotiabank Saddledome
TV: Sportsnet West/City. Radio: Sportsnet 960 The Fan
Odds: Panthers -194, Flames +160
The buzz
Fresh off their most embarrassing loss of the season, the Flames better bring their A game in Saturday’s showdown with Matthew Tkachuk and the Panthers. The locals pride themselves on a tight-checking brand, but you wouldn’t have guessed that as you watched Thursday’s 8-3 thumping from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Nikita Kucherov notched six points, the most the Flames have allowed to an individual player since the early-’90s.
It won’t get any easier against the Panthers. The Stanley Cup hangover doesn’t seem to be an issue as they are currently tied for top spot in the Atlantic Division. While Tkachuk has been booed on previous visits to his old stomping grounds, perhaps he will receive a loud roar Saturday for ensuring that there wasn’t a championship parade in Edmonton in June.
The quote
“It’s one of those typical measuring-stick games. We’re going to see where we’re at. We have done a good job so far this year of playing well against the top teams, and we’re going to have to do that again.”
— Flames fourth-line forward Ryan Lomberg, part of the Panthers’ championship squad last season
The news
- It will be a milestone night for MacKenzie Weegar as the 30-year-old defenceman will be skating in his 500th career game. His tally so far includes 306 appearances with the Panthers and 193 (and counting) more in Calgary’s colours.
- Jonathan Huberdeau is riding a six-game point-streak as he faces his former pals. Huberdeau tops the Flames with 21 points, including four goals and five assists during his current tear.
- With Dan Vladar dealing with a lower-body injury, the Flames recalled goalie Devin Cooley from the AHL’s Wranglers on an emergency basis. Cooley should serve Saturday as the backup to Dustin Wolf, who will be trying to snap his personal three-game losing streak. Wolf, 23, has posted a 4.79 goals-against average and .846 save percentage during this string of setbacks.
- Flames coach Ryan Huska shuffled his middle-six forward combos for Friday’s practice, reuniting Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman and giving Jakob Pelletier a look alongside Connor Zary and Yegor Sharangovich. Meanwhile, Andrei Kuzmenko was working as the spare.
- The Panthers were blanked Thursday by the Vancouver Canucks, the first time they have been shut out this season. It’s especially difficult to keep Sam Reinhart’s name off the scoring summary. With 19 goals already, Reinhart is tied for second in the Rocket Richard Trophy race.
- The Panthers lead the loop in shorthanded goals, with seven. Reinhart has accounted for four of those.
The projected lineup
- Forwards
- Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
- Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
- Pelletier-Zary-Sharangovich
- Lomberg-Rooney-Duehr
- Defence
- Bahl-Andersson
- Hanley-Weegar
- Bean-Pachal
- Goalies
- Wolf
- Cooley
The injuries
- Justin Kirkland (knee), Anthony Mantha (knee), Dan Vladar (lower body)
In case you missed it
On Thursday night, MacKenzie Weegar insisted he was the Flames’ biggest problem. Now what? As Weegar put it: “It’s about my response.”