By Canadian Press

Tkachuk leads Flames in 6-5 shootout lead over Panthers

Oct 24, 2019 | 10:26 PM

CALGARY — Matthew Tkachuk scored twice in regulation and added another in the shootout as the Calgary Flames recovered from blowing three leads to beat the Florida Panthers 6-5 on Thursday.

Sean Monahan also scored in the shootout for Calgary, who converted both tiebreaking attempts on Sergei Bobrovsky. David Rittich thwarted Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov to pick up the victory.

Austin Czarnik, Mark Giordano and Sam Bennett scored in regulation for Calgary (6-5-1).

Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Josh Brown, Evgenii Dadonov and Mark Pysyk scored for Florida (4-2-4), which has points in seven straight games (3-0-4). 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.

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Calgary responded at 17:17. Bennett broke to the net off the sideboards, shot the puck and collected his own rebound to score.

It was a tough night for both goaltenders.

Rittich’s five goals allowed came on 23 shots. Bobrovky faced 24.

Tied 2-2 after 40 minutes, 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 to pad their lead. Sean Monahan, held without a goal in his last 10 games, was stopped on a breakaway, then robbed on a one-time. The Flames also hit two posts.

The Panthers pulled within one on Brown’s first of the season at 6:20. Florida tied it just over two minutes later when Dadonov converted Huberdeau’s pass on a two-on-one.

Down 2-1, the Panthers tied it for the second time in the second period at 15:15 when Weegar got himself 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 neatly converted a give-and-go with Michael Frolik, who also had the primary assist on Tkachuk’s third period goal.

Notes: The Flames fly out Friday morning for Regina and a five-game road trip, which begins with the Heritage Classic versus the Winnipeg Jets from Mosaic Stadium. … The Panthers’ four-game road trip continues Sunday in Edmonton. … With defenceman 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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2019.

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press