Panthers’ early lead fizzles away in loss to Flames — Florida’s third loss in four games

The Panthers were feeling pretty good about things on Friday.

As well they should have.

Evan Rodrigues opened their game against the visiting Calgary Flames with a goal just 54 seconds in. Then, Sam Bennett scored before the game was three minutes old.

Things got away from the Panthers pretty quickly, however.

The Flames, coming off what could have been a demoralizing loss in Tampa, scored the next four goals and held on for a 5-3 win over the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena.

The Panthers, suddenly, are scrambling and have lost three of their past four.

“We slowed down a bit after we got a little comfortable in the game,’’ Bennett said. “We were a little slow.’’

For the first time since October, the Panthers lost consecutive games — and they have lost three straight at home for the first time since March 2024.

“When you score two like that, I think you think you’re just going to generate all you want,’’ coach Paul Maurice said after the loss. “When that doesn’t happen, some frustration comes into your game. We didn’t move the puck very easily but the expectation that we should is not realistic.”

The Panthers (12-11-1) were flying high after scoring two goals on the first two shots they took against Calgary backup Devin Cooley.

Cooley had to come in for starter Dustin Wolf on Wednesday in Tampa after he gave up three goals on four shots in Calgary’s eventual 5-1 loss to the Lightning.

Only Cooley stood strong the rest of the way, ending the game with 37 saves.

Florida gave up four straight goals after leading 2-0. The Flames (9-14-3) tied it on a pair of shots from defensemen: Yan Kuznetsov scored his first NHL goal to make it 2-1, and former Panthers d-man MacKenzie Weegar got his first of the season to tie the score at 2 with 9:19 left in the first.

“I’m just happy to contribute to a win on the offensive side,” said Weegar, who was traded to the Flames in 2022 as part of the blockbuster Matthew Tkachuk deal. “Whether it was playing in Florida or back home in Calgary, I don’t really care. I’m just happy it came, you could say, at the right time.”

Late in the first, Florida forward A.J. Greer was called for holding — and during the play, defenseman Aaron Ekblad was called for tripping.

That gave the Flames a 5-on-3 power play for a full two minutes. Although Calgary did not score before intermission, Morgan Frost jumped on a rebound that Daniil Tarasov (29 saves) could not handle to give the Flames a lead for the first time.

Calgary did not trail again.

“Very big for our power play to step up and score there,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska, whose team is still near the bottom of the NHL standings at 9-14-3 but has won four of five. “You get a full, 2-minute 5-on-3 … you have to score, you really do. Or, the momentum all gets shifted to the other side. I thought our guys regrouped after not starting good in the first by doing a really good job [starting] in the second.”

The Panthers trailed 4-2 going into the third period with Maurice changing up his lines. Florida found one that worked with Anton Lundell centering Sam Reinhart (two assists) and Brad Marchand.

Marchand scored from the high slot with 8:06 left to give the Panthers life.

The Panthers had Tarasov on the bench when Marchand scored, and left their net empty again with 2:42 remaining.

Although Florida mounted heavy pressure on Cooley and the Flames, Marchand could not connect on a shot from down low and Calgary’s Joel Farabee found that empty net for the 5-3 win with 63 seconds left on the clock.

The Panthers will try and get back on the winning side of things Tuesday when they play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a rematch of the 2025 Eastern Conference semifinals that Florida won in 7 en route to the team’s second consecutive Stanley Cup championship.

Having a few days off may just help a team that has been hammered with big injuries thus far.

“You’re going to take the chances that you have to recover,’’ Maurice said. “At the same time, we’ve got a whole bunch of stuff we’ve got to work on to get better. So, this will be a good chance for us to do that.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 8:38 PM.