Calgary @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 24, 2019 ) Florida 5, Calgary 6

The Calgary Flames aim to end a difficult five-game road trip with a winning record after suffering two tough losses when they travel south to visit the Florida Panthers on Sunday night. The Flames won the first two contests on their trek, but gave up the tying tally in the final second of regulation and lost in overtime at Nashville on Thursday before battling back from a rough start only to drop a 4-3 decision at Tampa Bay on Saturday.

“We had stretches of puck (possession) in their zone, but not nearly enough,” Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk told reporters Saturday. “We’ve just got to put it aside right now because we’ve got a back-to-back. I don’t think any of us are happy with our game today, but the good thing is we’re going to come back (Sunday) and we’ll be desperate to get two points.” The Flames came into the weekend holding one of two wild card spots in a crowded Western Conference and will go for a seventh win in nine games against the Panthers after Tkachuk scored twice in a wild 6-5 shootout victory in Calgary on Oct. 24. Florida has dropped four of its last five games (1-3-1) after scoring late in regulation to tie before losing 3-2 in a shootout against Chicago at home Saturday, and the Panthers trail Toronto by five points for third place in the Atlantic Division with one game in hand. “We’re fighting for our lives,” Florida left wing Mike Hoffman told reporters after his team registered a 40-29 edge in shots. “Guys gave everything they had there to try and tie the game up.”

TIME: 4 p.m. ET. TV: FS Florida, Sportsnet West

ABOUT THE FLAMES (33-26-7): Elias Lindholm snapped a five-game goal drought with his team-leading 28th of the season Saturday while forward Andrew Mangiapane scored his seventh in six contests to push his career-best total to 17. Tkachuk had an assist in the loss to boost his team-best total to 56 points - two better than Johnny Gaudreau - and center Mikael Backlund extended his point streak to six contests by recording a helper. David Rittich (24-16-6) turned aside 29 shots to suffer the loss in net and may give way to backup Cam Talbot (9-10-1, .914 save percentage) after playing four games in seven days.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (33-25-7): Hoffman scored for the fifth straight game Saturday to lead the team in goals with 27 and the 30-year-old boasts six tallies to go along with four assists during a seven-game point streak. Left wing Jonathan Huberdeau has been left off the scoresheet in three of the last four games but leads the team with 77 points, while captain Aleksander Barkov was pointless in the past two contests after recording six in the previous five to push his total to 62. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 27 shots in Saturday’s loss, dropping to 3-3-0 with a .921 save percentage in his last six starts, and could get the call on back-to-back nights.

OVERTIME

1. Florida D Mike Matheson scored his eighth goal to tie the game with 1:28 left in regulation Saturday and is two away from his career high of 10 set in 2017-18.

2. Calgary D Rasmus Andersson has two goals, five assists and a plus-11 rating in his last dozen games.

3. The Panthers score the fifth-most goals per game (3.40) and surrender the second-most (3.34).

PREDICTION: Panthers 4, Flames 3