Flames rally past Panthers, pick up second win of road trip

Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, Yan Kuznetsov notched his first career goal and the Calgary Flames won for the second time on their five-game road swing by toppling the Florida Panthers 5-3 on Friday afternoon in Sunrise, Fla.

MacKenzie Weegar, Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee hit the net for the Flames, who are 2-1-0 on the trip with stops left at the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators. Rasmus Andersson posted two assists.

The Flames started backup goalie Devin Cooley, and the 28-year-old responded with 37 saves.

Evan Rodrigues, Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand tallied as the Panthers lost for the third time in four games (1-3-0). Sam Reinhart had two assists. Backup goaltender Daniil Tarasov made 29 saves.

After the Flames allowed four goals in the first 10:01 in a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay Wednesday, the Panthers jumped out to a similar start when a forced turnover led to Rodrigues deking his way to his seventh tally 54 second into the match.

Bennett pushed it to a two-goal lead two minutes later, but Kuznetsov, playing in his 13th career game, netted his goal at 5:35 to give the Pacific Division club some momentum.

A former Panthers defenseman acquired in the 2022 trade for Matthew Tkachuk, Weegar blasted his first goal of the year at 10:41 to knot the game at 2-all.

Calgary ended the frame with a 5-on-3 power play that carried over to the second, while the Panthers outshot them 19-14.

Near the end of the two-man advantage early in the second, Frost put back a rebound 55 seconds in as Calgary scored a third straight goal for its first lead of the day.

Andersson redeemed himself from an earlier roughing penalty with a long shot that Kadri clipped for a 4-2 lead with 1:16 left.

Trailing on a rush in the third, Marchand took a feed from Reinhart and blistered his team-best 15th goal at 11:54.

However, Farabee recorded his 100th career marker into an empty net at 18:57 for the final margin.

--Field Level Media