Huberdeau, Weegar Return as Flames Face Panthers (and Tkachuk)

Matthew Tkachuk spent most of his afternoon Friday on the ice in Fort Lauderdale preparing for the Florida Panthers game against his former Calgary Flames in a, well, different way.

Clad in his full game uniform, Tkachuk skated around the ice as fog rolled in from machines placed up in the stands of the IcePlex.

Tkachuk and the Panthers had the day off — but he was there for hours filming a commercial.

The Flames, meanwhile, held a practice at Florida’s former training facility in Coral Springs.

Hey, to each their own.

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The Panthers took a deserved day off after playing four games in six days.

After losing 2-1 to the visiting Flyers on Thursday, should be motivated this afternoon when the Flames visit Sunrise at 4.

There is no shortage of storylines here: Not only will Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar play in their second game in Sunrise following the blockbuster 2022 trade which brought Tkachuk to Sunrise, but this is the first game out of the NHL Trade Deadline.

Calgary was thought to be major sellers at the deadline and, while they did unload pending free agent defenseman Noah Hanifin, the Flames are back — and they are mostly intact.

Former Florida goalie Jacob Markstrom was thought to be on the move, but he will be in net for the Flames today against the Panthers.

Anthony Stolarz will start for Florida.

Calgary is 3-0 against the Panthers since ‘The Trade,’ and has won six of its past seven — including a 6-3 win over the Lightning on Thursday.

Today will also be a big day for Aaron Ekblad.

He will pass Huberdeau for second place on the franchise list for games played.

Speaking of the Trade Deadline, Florida will not have Kyle Okposo available so the now-former Buffalo captain will not play.

Okposo will wear No. 8 with the Panthers after wearing No. 21 both with the Islanders and Sabres.

ON DECK

CALGARY FLAMES @ FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Saturday, 4 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; 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
• Local Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-225); Puck line (-1.5, +110); Over/Under 6.5 (+110/-135)
• This Season (Flames Lead 1-0) — At Calgary: Flames 3, Panthers 1 (Dec. 18). At Florida: Saturday.
• Last Season: Calgary Won 2-0
• All-Time Regular Season Series: Calgary leads 25-11-3, 3 ties

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (43-17-4) LINEUP

10 Vladimir Tarasenko // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 17 Evan Rodrigues

21 Nick Cousins // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 94 Ryan Lomberg

41 Gustav Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 62 Brandon Montour

91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

41 Anthony Stolarz

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: Kyle Okposo, Josh Mahura, Steven Lorentz, Jonah Gadjovich, Tobias Bjornfot

Injured: None

Assigned to Charlotte: Will Lockwood

PROJECTED CALGARY FLAMES (31-26-5)  LINEUP

22 Jakob Pelletier // 91 Nazem Kadri // 96 Andrei Kuzmenko

10 Jonathan Huberdeau // 17  Yegor Sharangovich // 27 Matt Coronato

88 Andrew Mangiapane // 11 Mikael Backlund // 20 Blake Coleman

71 Walker Duehr // 21 Kevin Rooney // 15 Dryden Hunt

52 MacKenzie Weegar // 4 Rasmus Andersson

58 Oliver Kylington // 62 Daniil Miromanov

94 Brayden Pachal // 44 Joel Hanley

25 Jacob Markstrom

80 Dan Vladar

Scratched: Jordan Oesterle, Dennis Gilbert

Injured: Connor Zary (upper body)

Suspended: Martin Pospisil

Calgary Flames lines courtesy NHL.com