Matthew Tkachuk leads Flames past Panthers 6-5 in shootout
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano was pleased with the way teammate Matthew Tkachuk delivered in the clutch.
Tkachuk scored twice in regulation and again in the shootout as the Flames recovered from squandering three leads and beat the Florida Panthers 6-5 on Thursday night.
"In big games, (Tkachuk) is always going to be there," Giordano said. "You always want the puck on his stick, it seems, in high-pressure situations. He makes plays under pressure. That's what makes him so good."
However, Tkachuk wasn't pleased with the way his team blew three leads.
"We're lucky. That's obviously a big two points, but we don't want to get comfortable in games like that," Tkachuk said. "We've got a two-goal lead in the third you have to put it away."
Sean Monahan also scored in the shootout for Calgary, which converted both tiebreaking attempts on Sergei Bobrovsky. David Rittich thwarted Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov to secure the victory.
Austin Czarnik, Mark Giordano and Sam Bennett scored in regulation for Calgary.
Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Josh Brown, Evgenii Dadonov and Mark Pysyk scored for Florida. Barkov had four assists.
Florida got its first lead at 14:59 of the third period. Pysyk got open in the slot, took a feed from Frank Vatrano and sent a 30-foot wrist shot through Rittich's pads.
Calgary responded at 17:17. Bennett broke to the net, shot the puck and collected his own rebound to score.
"We got a big goal there, obviously, all of a sudden it's 5-4 (Florida) but then they get a fortunate bounce on their goal," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "Then in overtime, anything can happen and we've been snake-bit a little bit in overtime and in the shootout."
Florida has points in its last seven, but only three of the games have been wins.
"You want to squeeze out every point you can and when you come back the way we did from a 4-2 deficit, you try to find the positive in that," said Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who played in his 400th NHL game..
Rittich's five goals allowed came on 23 shots. Bobrovky faced 24 shots.
Tied 2-2 after two periods, the Flames surged in front 4-2 on Tkachuk's second goal of the game 32 seconds into the third and Giordano's goal at 5:16.
Calgary had more chances. Sean Monahan, held without a goal in his last 10 games, was stopped on a breakaway, then robbed on a one-time shot. The Flames also hit two posts.
The Panthers pulled within one on Brown's first goal of the season at 6:20. Florida tied it just over two minutes later when Dadonov converted Huberdeau's pass on a 2-on-1.
Down 2-1, the Panthers tied it for the second time in the second period at 15:15 when Weegar got open in the slot, took a feed from Barkov, and beat Rittich on his blocker side from 40 feet out.
Calgary had taken the lead at 11:59 of the second when Tkachuk converted a give-and-go with Michael Frolik, who also had the primary assist on Tkachuk's goal in the third.
Flames coach Bill Peters thought they were in control when Giordano made it 4-2, but they quickly lost that control.
"We were in a good spot right there, and they pushed, we didn't handle it very well, recovered, broke down a little bit," Peters said. "Huge goal by (Bennett), he got us into overtime, and then the shootout."
NOTES: With defenseman Mike Matheson (undisclosed) sidelined, Riley Stillman was recalled from Springfield and played his second career game. Stillman's dad, Cory, was the sixth overall pick by the Flames in 1992 and played seven seasons in Calgary.
UP NEXT
Panthers: At Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Flames: At Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
