Flames at Panthers
After seeing their three-game winning streak come to a screeching halt against one Sunshine State representative, the Calgary Flames look to rebound against the other when they visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday. "We just have to bounce back," Calgary coach Bob Hartley said after his team fell flat in a 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Thursday. "This team has showed so much resiliency and everything. We'll go back to the drawing board." Sean Monahan is showing signs of heating up as he scored his third goal in four contests Thursday.
Florida suffered its second straight setback and saw its seven-game point streak (4-0-3) unceremoniously end after dropping a 4-1 decision to Philadelphia on Thursday. "Nobody was very good for us (Thursday)," Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. "We just weren't sharp enough, we weren't hungry enough and we didn't battle enough." While strong defensively, Florida continues to struggle to score goals as it has an NHL-low 16 in 11 games.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, RSN West (Calgary), FSN Florida
ABOUT THE FLAMES (8-5-2): Captain Mark Giordano notched a pair of assists against Tampa Bay to extend his point streak to five games. Giordano has mustered three goals and five assists in that stretch and leads the team in points with 15 - just one ahead of fellow defenseman TJ Brodie. "(It's) the way we are built," Hartley said of having a pair of blue-liners contributing offensively. "They are our backbone."
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (4-3-4): Nick Bjugstad scored his first goal of the season on Thursday and also notched an assist in Florida's 2-1 setback to Calgary on April 4. Jimmy Hayes set up Bjugstad's goal versus the Flyers for his second assist in three games. The 24-year-old Hayes looks to build off his recent success versus the Flames, against whom he had a goal in the Panthers' 4-3 shootout loss on Nov. 22 and an assist in the teams' recent meeting in April.
OVERTIME
1. Calgary G Karri Ramo looks to snap a three-start skid (0-2-1) on Saturday versus Florida, against which he is 2-1-0 with a 2.28 GAA.
2. The Panthers have killed off all eight short-handed situations in November after yielding five power-play goals in their previous three games.
3. Flames D Ladislav Smid sat out Thursday's contest with an undisclosed injury but is expected to return versus Florida.