Panthers in Calgary looking to bounce back from frustrating shutout loss

The Florida Panthers will continue their extended western road trip on Saturday night in Alberta.

Florida is coming off a frustrating 4-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, one that snapped the Cats’ seven-game point streak in which they went 6-0-1.

It was also the first time this season, and the first time since last March, that the Panthers failed to score a goal in a game.

We’ll see how Florida responds to that when they face old friends Ryan Lomberg, Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome.

Calgary has been a bit of a surprise in the Western Conference so far this season.

Not viewed by many as a team that would be in the playoff mix, the Flames currently sit one point behind Colorado for the final Wild Card spot with a game in hand.

A big part of Calgary’s success has been how well they’ve played at home.

Entering Saturday’s contest, the Flames have skated to an impressive 10-4-1 mark on home ice.

Unfortunately for Calgary, they haven’t spent a lot of time at home lately.

Over their past nine games the Flames have won just two.

Like Florida, the Flame are also coming off a loss. They were just stomped on home ice 8-3 by Tampa Bay, so both teams should have a bit of a chip on their shoulder when the puck drops in Calgary.

One cool element of Florida's visit is that Lomberg will receive his Stanley Cup ring while the Panthers are in town.

Lomby was such a crucial and beloved member of the Cats during his time in South Florida, it will be great to see him enjoy his new hardware.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and for Saturday’s frenzy with the Flames:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Evan Rodrigues – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist

A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Mackie Samoskevich

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov

Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt

Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich, Adam Boqvist

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