George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers continue their tour of Alberta tonight by cruising down the Calgary Trail to take on the Flames.
The Panthers and Flames have a little history together — although nothing like they do with the Oilers.
Thursday, the Panthers beat the Oilers, the team they have beaten out for the Stanley Cup the past two summers, 4-0 in a game they certainly got fired up about.
Tonight may be a different story.
Florida really only has trade history with the Flames.
Pretty good trade history, but that’s about it.
And, tonight, the only players traded between the two teams are with the Panthers.
Sam Bennett (trade deadline in 2021) and Matthew Tkachuk (summer of 2022) will be in the lineup tonight at the Saddledome.
The Panthers are, however, making wholesale changes.
Per Jameson Olive of FloridaPanthers.com, Paul Maurice said Anton Lundell and Mackie Samoskevich are coming out after getting “banged up’’ in Edmonton.
Gus Forsling will also come out; this is the first game this season that Forsling has not played. He was the last player to have played in every game.
For the Flames, Jonathan Huberdeau (2022) will not be on the ice for the Flames after having season-ending hip surgery.
Ryan Lomberg, a big part of the Panthers and a Stanley Cup champion in 2024, will be a healthy scratch tonight by the Flames.
We don’t know why, either.
NOTES: PANTHERS at FLAMES
- Starting Goalies: The Panthers will turn to Daniil Tarasov tonight after Sergei Bobrovsky shut out the Oilers on Thursday. Dustin Wolf is in net for the Flames.
- How to Watch/Stream: The Panthers remain on local television tonight. You can stream the game on Panthers+ locally and ESPN+ outside the South Florida market.
- NHL Betting Odds: The local book doesn’t know what to do with this game, so it’s a pick ‘em with both teams at -110 on the money line. Good luck.
ON DECK: GAME No. 69
FLORIDA PANTHERS at CALGARY FLAMES
- When: Friday, 8 p.m.
- Where: The Saddledome, Calgary
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Local Betting Odds — Pick ‘em: MoneyLine (-110); Florida Puck Line -1.5 (+200); O/U 5.5 (-130/+105)
- Last Season: 1-1
- This Season (Flames Lead 1-0) — At Calgary: Friday. At Florida: Flames 5, Panthers 3 (Nov. 28)
- All-Time Regular Season Series: Calgary leads 28-12-3, 3 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday vs. Seattle Kraken, 7 p.m.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (34-31-3) LINES
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 17 Evan Rodrigues // 70 Jesper Boqvist
10 A.J. Greer // 92 Tomas Nosek // 25 Nolan Foote
29 Cole Reinhardt // 71 Luke Kunin // 24 Vinnie Hinostroza
7 Dmitry Kulikov // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 3 Seth Jones
6 Donovan Sebrango // 20 Mike Benning
40 Daniil Tarasov
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Gus Forsling, Anton Lundell, Mackie Samoskevich
Injured: Sam Reinhart (undisclosed), Uvis Balinskis (lower body), Brad Marchand (lower body), Sasha Barkov (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body)
PROJECTED CALGARY FLAMES (27-34-7) LINES
20 Blake Coleman // 11 Mikael Backlund // 86 Joel Farabee
92 Matvei Gridin // 16 Morgan Frost // 27 Matt Coronato
17 Yegor Sharangovich // 22 Ryan Strome // 47 Connor Zary
95 Victor Olofsson // 76 Martin Pospisil // 43 Adam Klapka
7 Kevin Bahl // 28 Zach Whitecloud
3 Olli Maatta // 48 Hunter Brzustewicz
44 Joel Hanley // 19 Zayne Parekh
32 Dustin Wolf
1 Devin Cooley
Scratched: Ryan Lomberg, John Beecher, Tyson Gross, Brayden Pachal
Injured: Jake Bean (undisclosed), Samuel Honzek (upper body), Jonathan Huberdeau (hip surgery), Yan Kuznetsov (upper body)