George Richards, FHN Publisher
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers will complete a ‘Battle of Alberta’ series of sorts today when they take on the Calgary Flames at 3 p.m.
Florida beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Thursday night, and now play host to the Oilers’ provincial rival.
The Panthers will welcome back old friends Ryan Lomberg, Jonathan Huberdeau, and MacKenzie Weegar to Sunrise — with Lomberg getting the video salute in the first period,
Huberdeau and Weegar got their ‘welcome backs’ on their first visit after being traded to Calgary in 2022.
This is a big game for Calgary which is coming off a 3-0 loss in Tampa Bay.
The Flames were expected to be a lottery team — and they still may be — but are contending for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Coming into today’s game, Calgary is a point back of Vancouver for the final wild-card spot with a game in hand.
NOTES: FLAMES @ PANTHERS
- Matthew Tkachuk will be out again tonight after being hurt at the 4 Nations Face-Off. This will be his fourth straight game out of the lineup — and Monday against Tampa Bay will be the fifth.
- How to Watch: Today’s matinee is on local TV. The game can also be streamed on Panthers+ locally and ESPN+ nationally.
- Starting Goalies: The Panthers will have Sergei Bobrovsky back in net; Dan Vladar goes for the Flames.
- NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are favorites on the money line (-240) at the local book. To win with the Panthers, a $240 bet pays $100.
ON DECK: GAME No. 61
CALGARY FLAMES at FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Saturday, 3 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-240); Puck line (-1.5, +105); Over/Under 5.5 (-115/-105)
- Last Season: Even 1-1
- This Season (Flames Lead 1-0) — At Calgary: Flames 3, Panthers 0 (Dec. 14). At Florida: Saturday.
- All-Time Regular Season Series: Calgary leads 26-12-3, 3 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Monday vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, 7 p.m.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (36-21-3) LINES
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart
25 Mackie Samoskevich // 9 Sam Bennett // 17 Evan Rodrigues
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 70 Jesper Boqvist
10 A.J. Greer // 94 Tomas Nosek // 12 Jonah Gadjovich
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov
88 Nate Schmidt // 26 Uvis Balinskis
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
30 Spencer Knight
Scratched: None
Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (lower body)
PROJECTED CALGARY FLAMES (28-22-8) LINES
10 Jonathan Huberdeau // 91 Nazem Kadri // 27 Matt Coronato
47 Connor Zary // 11 Mikael Backlund // 20 Blake Coleman
86 Joel Farabee // 16 Morgan Frost // 17 Yegor Sharangovich
70 Ryan Lomberg // 21 Kevin Rooney // 76 Martin Pospisil
7 Kevin Bahl // 4 Rasmus Andersson
44 Joel Hanley // 52 MacKenzie Weegar
98 Ilya Solovyov // 94 Brayden Pachal
80 Dan Vladar
32 Dustin Wolf
Scratched: Adam Klapka, Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov
Injured: None