Panthers and Flames Put Friendships Aside Tonight in Calgary

The Florida Panthers, with 13 out of 16 possible points in the past eight games, are in Calgary for a friendly reunion with the Flames.

At least up until the puck drops, that is.

The first business order in Calgary was to present Ryan Lomberg with his well-deserved Stanley Cup ring. 

The Panthers will also get to say hello to Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar, both of whom were critical to the franchise’s growth into what we have here now.

Huberdeau played 671 games for the Panthers, surpassed only by Sasha Barkov and Aaron Ekblad. 

He is second in career points to Barkov with 740.

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In his first two years in Calgary, Huberdeau struggled, producing only 15 and 12-goal seasons. That came after he racked up 30 goals in what ended up being his final season in Florida. 

Huberdeau ended third in the NHL in scoring that season, behind only Connor McDavid and the late Johnny Gaudreau.

He has had a modest resurgence this season, with 11 goals and 21 points in 30 games which leads the Flames in scoring. 

Huberdeau comes into tonight’s game riding a six-game point streak, although the Flames went 2-3-1 during that span and gave up 27 goals.

Weegar has tailed off in goal production, with only four goals to date, as compared to 20 last season, a career-high by far. 

He achieved stardom with the Panthers, coming out of nowhere — the 206th draft pick out of 210 in 2013 — to eventually get an eight-year $50 million contract from Calgary.

Weegar has been averaging a formidable 23:23 of ice time per game.

Sam Bennett spent almost six seasons with the Flames after being the 4th overall pick in the 2014 draft.

His production skyrocketed when he came to Florida. With 13 goals and 26 points, this can be a career year as he works toward a new contract.

A.J. Greer spent last season with the Flames, where he had a career-high six goals. 

He has a reasonable chance of topping that in Florida this season, with three in the first 30 games.

Oh yeah, Matthew Tkachuk also played for the Flames. He is doing fine in Florida. Seems to like it a bit, too.

The Flames did not make the playoffs in the two full seasons that Huberdeau and Weegar played for them, while the duo watched their former team win a Stanley Cup.

It had to hurt.

The Flames are rebuilding but, right now, sit just outside of a wild-card spot in the West.

They lost important players such as Jacob Markstrom, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, as well as Nikita Zadorov and Chris Tanev.

The only player other than Huberdeau with double digits in goals is Nazem Kadri with 10.

Goaltending has suffered with the loss of Markstrom. Neither Dan Vladar nor Dustin Wolf have proven No. 1 credentials.

The Flames and the Panthers come off lopsided losses Thursday.

There should be some anger out there, friendships notwithstanding.

ON DECK: GAME 31

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT CALGARY FLAMES

• When: Saturday, 10 p.m.
• Where: The Saddledome; Calgary, Alberta
• 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
• Last Season: Even 1-1 
• This Season — At Calgary: Saturday. At Florida: March 1.
• All-Time Regular Season Series: Calgary leads 25-12-3, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Monday at Edmonton Oilers, 8:30 p.m.