RECAP: Flames 5, Panthers 3

SUNRISE, Fla. – Letting an early lead slip away for the second straight game, the Florida Panthers fell to the Calgary Flames by a score of 5-3 at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday.

Sitting at 12-11-2, Florida has lost consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 16-18.

“I think we just got a little too comfortable in the game,” forward Sam Bennett said.

As an efficient a start as you’ll see, the Panthers scored on their first two shots of the game.

After Evan Rodrigues slipped a shot through Devin Cooley's five-hole to make it 1-0 just 54 seconds into the first period, Bennett scored from the slot to make it 2-0 at 2:58.

Heating up, Bennett has logged at least one point in five of his last six games.

“I’m definitely feeling more like myself,” Bennett said. “Definitely a lot more jump in my game than I had earlier. I think our line has been having some success, so I think we can just keep building off that.”

Cutting Calgary’s deficit in half, Yan Kuznetsov scored at 5:35 to make it 2-1.

Erasing Florida’s early advantage, MacKenzie Weegar fired a shot through traffic from the point that caught a piece of Daniil Tarasov before trickling into the net to make it 2-2.

With a 5-on-3 power play from late in the first period carrying over into the start of the second, the Flames took the lead when Morgan Frost went to the blue paint and backhanded a rebound past Tarasov to make it 3-2 just 55 seconds into the period.

Giving the Flames a two-goal cushion, Nazem Kadri, Calgary’s points leader, cruised through the slot and tipped in a shot from Rasmus Andersson to make it 4-2 at 18:44.

Bringing the Panthers back to within striking distance in the third period, Brard Marchand took a tape-to-tape pass form Sam Reinhart and ripped a sizzling shot over Cooley’s glove from the slot at 11:54 to cut the deficit to 4-3 with his team-leading 15^th goal of the season.

Following what appeared to be a missed high-stick call that would’ve gone in favor of the Panthers, the Flames, who managed to just hold on, put the game away when Joel Farabee sent the puck into the empty net to make it 5-3 with 1:03 remaining on the clock regulation.

In defeat, the Panthers had 28 of their shots blocked.

“We got 85 shot attempts and 39 to the net,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s fine, but you’ve left a lot of zone time. Some are good blocks. The other team gets paid, too. You’ve got to be mindful of that. I thought maybe two areas [we lacked in] were 1-on-1 battles where we weren’t quite as good as we need to be to expect to win a game, and then a little slowness in our offensive zone.”

THEY SAID IT

“When you score two like that, you think you’re just going to generate all you want. When that doesn’t happen, you get some frustration built into your game.” – Paul Maurice

“You know our team is always going to fight right until the end. We have that character in this room to do that, but again just fell short tonight.” – Sam Bennett

CATS STATS

- Brad Marchand has scored in each of the last two games.

- Sam Bennett recorded a team-high six shots on goal.

- Anton Lundell won a team-high 16 faceoffs.

- Mackie Samoskevich recorded a team-high three hits.

- The Panthers led 37-19 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will take a few days to recharge before returning to the ice to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a divisional matchup at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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