Johnson, Flames hand Panthers third straight home loss
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Chad Johnson made 36 saves and Matthew Tkachuk dished out two assists to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night at the BB&T Center.
Calgary (32-26-4) received goals from Sam Bennett, Mikael Backlund, Deryk Engelland and Troy Brouwer while Johnson gave Brian Elliott a rest after he had started four straight games in goal.
Florida (28-22-10) has lost three consecutive home games, nearly negating their most recent road trip, which produced five straight wins.
Panthers standout Roberto Luongo took the loss on the same night he passed Ed Belfour for fourth place on the NHL's all-time list of games played by a goalie with 964.
Calgary made the game's first mistake -- a tripping penalty by Michael Frolik against Florida's Aleksander Barkov. That brought on the Panthers' hot power-play unit that scored on their third straight attempt over the past two games. Nick Bjugstad got the goal as Florida put up six shot attempts in 93 seconds.
Bjugstad's shot, which bounced in off Johnson's right arm, was set up by a pass to the left by Jussi Jokinen.
Calgary tied the score with 8:57 expired in the first period. After Kris Versteeg forced a turnover behind Florida's net, Michael Stone got a shot on goal, and Bennett scored on a juicy rebound.
The Flames went up 2-1 less than two minutes later on a goal by Backlund. Tkachuk, on the rush, fed Backlund, who had gotten behind Florida's defense, beating Luongo stick-side.
Less than four minutes later, the Flames made it 3-1. Tkachuk's seemingly harmless shot from the left circle was deflected by Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad. The puck handcuffed Luongo, and Frolik slapped at the rebound before teammate Engelland tucked it into the net.
Barkov scored with 2:40 remaining in the first period to cut Florida's deficit to 3-2. Barkov picked up a steal in his own end, skated down and worked a give-and-go with Jonathan Huberdeau before scoring.
In the second period, exactly two minutes after breaking Florida's power-play-goal streak at three, Calgary scored to increase its lead to 4-2. Matt Stajan, from the left corner, threaded a bullet pass to Brouwer, who scored from in front.
NOTES: Flames RW Kris Versteeg -- a former Panthers player -- played in career game No. 600. ... Flames RW Alex Chiasson played in career game No. 300. ... Florida scratched C Greg McKegg and D Jakub Kindl. ... Calgary scratched C Freddie Hamilton, D Dennis Wideman and D Jyrkl Jokipakka. ... Panthers interim coach Tom Rowe praised team captain/C Derek MacKenzie earlier this week: "Derek is in charge of that (locker) room. He's got those guys ready." ... Gerard Gallant, fired by the Panthers this season after he led the team to the 2016 Atlantic Division title, could be in line to coach the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights next season. ... Calgary wraps up its five-game trip on Sunday at the Carolina Hurricanes. ... Florida plays host to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.