Panthers Fan Flames

     Roberto Luongo played in his first game for the Panthers since December 4 as Florida pounded the Calgary Flames 6-3 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday. The Panthers, who have seven of their last eight games, wore MSD patches for the first time in remembrance of the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this week. The Cats extended their road winning streak to five games.
     Florida(26-23-6) scored on their first shot of the game at 1:09 into the contest. Michael Matheson skated the puck from his own left circle into the neutral zone. He snapped a shot from the top right circle by David Rittich for his seventh goal of the campaign. The Cats have scored first in eight of their last nine games.
     The game was evened up by Calgary(30-21-8) on the power play with 5:50 left in the first. Dougie Hamilton put the puck past Luongo on assists from Mark Giordano and Sean Monahan.
     Once again. the Panthers struck early in the frame to regain the lead. Vincent Trocheck made a give-and-go pass with Aleksander Barkov at center ice. Trocheck received the puck in the high slot and put in a wrist shot 58 seconds into the second period on the power play for his 22nd goal of the season.
     The Cats extended their margin to 3-1 on another power-play goal at the 3:09 mark. Trocheck moved the puck from the right wing to Keith Yandle on top of the zone. His slap shot was deflected in by Evgenii Dadonov in the slot area.
     It would become a three-goal gap for Florida at 6:03. Aaron Ekblad swiped at the puck just before it left the Flames zone. Dadonov made a centering pass from the right wing that glanced off the stick of Barkov at top of the crease. Rittich was then replaced in net by Jon Gillies following that play.
     The Flames got a goal back on the power play with 7:45 remaining in the second. Matthew Tkachuk backhanded a pass from the high slot to Monahan on the left wing. He returned it back to the middle where Hamilton scored on a slap shot for his second goal of the game.
     In the third period, the Panthers pulled ahead by three goals again at 3:41. Barkov cycled the puck from the right corner to Mark Pysyk at the right point. He passed to the middle and Matheson blasted a slap shot for his second tally of the contest. It was the second two-goal game for Matheson in his NHL career.
     Florida continued their momentum to make it 6-2 at the 5:42 mark. MacKenzie Weegar placed a diagonal pass from the left circle to Alex Petrovic at the blue line. He fired a slap shot that was deflected in by Jared McCann from the edge of the crease.
     Hamilton nailed the hat trick with his third goal of the contest with 8:05 left in the period. He sent the puck from the right corner toward the net and it went off the right skate of Ekblad into the Panthers cage.