Stolarz set the tone early and the Panthers capitalize in the second period while losing Ekblad and Rodrigues to injury

The Florida Panthers bounced back on Saturday late afternoon against the Calgary Flames to split the season series and the two-game homestand. It has been a while since they have lost two games in a row in regulation.

Last time they lost two straight regulation came against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 21. Since then, the Panthers have been on a run of 26-5-2 in their last 33 games without a losing streak of two in regulation.

Neither team scored in the first period, but the Panthers came out on fire in the second period. Florida used their hard, aggressive forechecking style to force Calgary into a multitude of turnovers on breakout passes and took away their passing lanes. The Panthers turned defense into quick offense in the second period to break the game open and found themselves victorious by a final of 5-1 from Amerant Bank Arena.

Here are the takeaways from Saturday’s tilt:

Anthony Stolarz set the tone early:

Stolarz continued to be sharp in between the pipes, where he kept the Flames from taking the lead a flurry of high danger chances in the opening frame.

The key stops that Stolarz made on the afternoon included a miscommunication on a line change that led to a partial breakaway by Flames forward Kevin Rooney. Panthers had a similar issue on Thursday where they avoided getting called for too many men, but their goaltender bailed them out on a breakaway.

There was also the save of the game with Andrew Mangiapane on a breakaway. Stolarz attempted the poke check, but missed with the puck on Mangiapane’s backhand. The puck was brought back to the forehand and got past the right pad of Stolarz while sprawls on his stomach but used his big frame to kick out his left foot to keep the game scoreless.

“I’m kind of lucky that I’m 6’6” Stolarz said following the game.

While Florida was up 2-1 in the second period, Stolarz also made a stop on Mikael Backlund attempting the Forsberg. Stolarz was steady in the crease stopping 34 of 35 shots in the contest, 16 of them were high danger.

“Our goaltending was fantastic,” Paul Maurice added. “At the end of these stretches and blocks that we play a lot, you need a special performance. Usually in one aspect of your game, and tonight, our goaltending was special.”

Stolarz got his fifth straight win, the longest winning streak of his career.

Vladimir Tarasenko made his mark

Saturday was Tarasenko’s second game with the Panthers since being traded two days prior to the NHL Trade Deadline. In their matchup against Calgary, it was another opportunity to see how he, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart play while on the same line.

Tarasenko got involved in the scoring 23 seconds into the middle frame, after he intercepted a clearing attempt by former Panther Jonathan Huberdeau. Tarasenko drove to the net and beat former Panther Jacob Markstrom blocker side to give Florida the first lead of the game.

He was not done, though.

With the Panthers up 3-1, they cycled the puck while both teams were four-on-four and used the open ice to their advantage. Tarasenko got the puck from the right circle, but it got off his tape quickly as he nailed a wrist shot past the glove of Markstrom at 14:55 of the second period.

Two shots, two goals.

“It’s kind of a relief,” Tarasenko said. “I felt comfortable as the game went on.”

Tarasenko had a secondary assist on former Panther Mackenzie Weegar’s turnover on a breakout pass. After a chip up the zone, Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov took care of the rest on a two-on-one. Barkov one-timed Reinhart’s back hand feed past the glove of Markstrom to help regain the lead just 28 seconds after Calgary tied the game.

That line clicked in their second game together.

“He wants to find out what we are doing here, what we want to accomplish, and what kind of plays we are making,” Barkov said. “When you have a guy like that coming in trying to find out everything, who reads the game really well. It happens quicker than with a guy who does not ask question and doesn’t find out how we play.”

Up to the challenge with losing Aaron Ekblad and Evan Rodrigues to injury

Florida faced adversity early on losing Ekblad to injury. He and Tarasenko had a knee-on-knee collision in the neutral zone, where Ekblad went to the locker room and never returned.

Rodrigues left toward the end of the second period after blocking a shot from the blue line, where he struggled to put any weight on his foot. He would not return neither.

Tarasenko took a few shifts on that line to finish out the game.

The Panthers finished with 11 forwards and five defensemen, with Gustav Forsling logging the most minutes. Forsling averages 21:48 of time on ice this season but was just shy of 26 minutes on the night, where he mostly played with Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Those two have familiarity with another as they were paired together for the first 16 games of the season while Ekblad and Brandon Montour were out due to their injuries sustained from their run to the Stanley Cup Final.

“At the end of the game, [Forsling] looks as strong as he does at the start of the game,” Maurice said. “He’s a fit man, you just trust everything that he does. That’s why the enthusiasm for a player like that signing with the team because you just see it every night. We lose a defenseman and he is blocking shots and he closing out plays and is so very consistent.”

Florida has reinforcements coming in with newly acquired forward Kyle Okposo, who is expected to make his debut on Tuesday night in Dallas. Okposo could slide into Rodrigues’ spot on the third line if Rodrigues is out for an extended period of time.

Maurice said that they will know more about the statuses of both Ekblad and Rodrigues on Monday.

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