CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Dustin Wolf made 24 saves, Victor Olofsson scored his first goal for Calgary and the Flames beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Friday night for their second straight victory.
Olofsson came over from Colorado at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Nazem Kadri back to the Avalanche.
Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato also scored for Calgary, each moving into a tie with Blake Coleman for the team lead with 16.
A.J. Greer
scored for two-time defending champion Florida. Daniil Tarasov made 32 saves in losing for sixth time in his last seven starts.
Trying to avoid becoming the first Cup-winning team to miss the playoffs the following season since Los Angeles in 2014-15, the Panthers remained 13 points behind the final wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.
Greer was ejected with 8:46 left in the third period after hooking Connor Zary and shoving him head-first into the boards.
Zary remained down for a few minutes before slowly skating off accompanied by the club’s trainer. Greer was assessed a hooking minor, an interference major and a game misconduct. Frost and Coronato scored on the extended power play to put the game away.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Calgary took the lead for good at 7:44 of the second period when Farabee’s shot deflected in off the stick of Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola.
Late in the third, Mikkola sustained what appeared to be a serious injury when he locked knees in an accidental collision with Calgary’s Ryan Strome, who was looking the opposite direction. Mikkola was down on ice writhing in pain as he clutched at his left knee.
Calgary has won seven straight home games against Florida. The Panthers’ last victory in the Scotiabank Saddledome was Feb. 17, 2018.
Panthers: Host Seattle on Tuesday night.
Flames: Host Tampa Bay on Sunday night.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
