Matthew Tkachuk scored twice in regulation and again in the shootout as the Calgary Flames recovered from squandering three leads and beat the Florida Panthers 6-5 on Thursday night.
Sean Monahan also scored in the shootout for Calgary, which converted both tiebreaking attempts on Sergei Bobrovsky. David Rittich thwarted Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov to secure the victory.
Austin Czarnik, Mark Giordano and Sam Bennett scored in regulation for Calgary.
Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Josh Brown, Evgenii Dadonov and Mark Pysyk scored for Florida, which has picked up points in seven straight games (3-0-4). Barkov had four assists.
Florida got its first lead at 14:59 of the third period. Pysyk got open in the slot, took a feed from Frank Vatrano and sent a 30-foot wrist shot through Rittich’s pads.
Calgary responded at 17:17. Bennett broke to the net, shot the puck and collected his own rebound to score.
Rittich’s five goals allowed came on 23 shots. Bobrovky faced 24 shots.
Tied 2-2 after two periods, the Flames surged in front 4-2 on Tkachuk’s second goal of the game 32 seconds into the third and Giordano’s goal at 5:16.
Calgary had more chances. Sean Monahan, held without a goal in his last 10 games, was stopped on a breakaway, then robbed on a one-time shot. The Flames also hit two posts.
The Panthers pulled within one on Brown’s first goal of the season at 6:20. Florida tied it just over two minutes later when Dadonov converted Huberdeau’s pass on a 2-on-1.
Down 2-1, the Panthers tied it for the second time in the second period at 15:15 when Weegar got open in the slot, took a feed from Barkov, and beat Rittich on his blocker side from 40 feet out.
Calgary had taken the lead at 11:59 of the second when Tkachuk converted a give-and-go with Michael Frolik, who also had the primary assist on Tkachuk’s goal in the third.
NOTES: With defenseman Mike Matheson (undisclosed) sidelined, Riley Stillman was recalled from Springfield and played his second career game. Stillman’s dad, Cory, was the sixth overall pick by the Flames in 1992 and played seven seasons in Calgary.
UP NEXT
Panthers: At Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Flames: At Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
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