Flames Fight Off Panthers

     The Calgary Flames held off the Florida Panthers 6-5 in a shootout on Thursday night at Scotiabank Saddledome. It was the first game of a four-game road trip for the Panthers. Florida was able to extend their point streak to seven straight games.
     Calgary(6-5-1) got the only tally of the first period on the power play at 11:43. Austin Czarnik put in his fourth goal of the year on assists from T.J. Brodie and Milan Lucic.
     Florida(4-2-4) struck at the 4:28 mark of the second period to even the contest 1-1. Jonathan Huberdeau compiled his fifth goal of the season while Aleksander Barkov chalked up his ninth assist on the play.
     The Flames retook the lead with 8:01 left in the period. Matthew Tkachuk exchanged the puck with former Panthers Michael Frolik on a give-and-go situation on the left point. Tkachuk then skated through the left circle and released a wrist shot from the low left circle past Sergei Bobrovky.
     The Cats again tied it up with 4:45 remaining in the second. MacKenzie Weegar scored on a long-range shot and Barkov collected his second assist.
     In the third period, Calgary moved ahead 3-2 just 32 seconds in to the frame. Mark Giordano pushed the puck out of his zone to Frolik at center ice. He entered the Florida zone on a 2-on-1 breakaway, angled a pass to his left and Tkachuk tapped it in from low slot for his second goal of the game.
     They made it 4-2 at the 5:16 mark. Giordano dropped a pass at the top of the zone, Elias Lindholm fired a wrist shot from above the right circle and Giordano redirected it in from the slot area.
     The Panthers cut it down to 4-3 at 6:20. Barkov passed from the left wing to Keith Yandle in the left circle. He connected a diagonal pass to the right point and Josh Brown blasted home a slap shot for his first goal of the campaign.
     Barkov added his fourth assist of the contest with 11:19 remaining in the third. He backhanded it from the neutral zone to Huberdeau at the blue line. He raced through the right circle, backhanded a cross-ice pass and Evgenii Dadonov steered the puck by David Rittich from the left of the crease to tie it 4-4.
     Florida took their first lead of the game with 5:01 left in the third. Denis Malgin fed a pass from the end wall and Mark Pysyk ripped a snap shot from the top left circle.
     Calgary was able to tie it up 5-5 with 2:43 to go. Andrew Mangiapane dropped a pass on the right-wing boards to Sam Bennett. His first shot was blocked and he followed up with a goal from the low right circle.
     The contest went to a shootout. The Flames converted on both of their attempts by Sean Monahan and Tkachuk with forehand snap shots while Huberdeau and Barkov for the Panthers were stopped.