Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano was pleased with the way teammate Matthew Tkachuk delivered in a clutch situation.
Tkachuk scored twice in regulation and added another in the shootout as the Calgary Flames survived a frantic third period on Thursday, escaping with a 6-5 victory over the Florida Panthers.
"In big games, (Tkachuk) is always going to be there," Giordano said. "You always want the puck on his stick, it seems, in high-pressure situations. He makes plays under pressure. That’s what makes him so good."
Tkachuk wasn't pleased with the way his team blew three leads en route to the victory.
"We're lucky. That's obviously a big two points, but we don't want to get comfortable in games like that," said Tkachuk. "We've got a two-goal lead in the third you have to put it away."
Chasing all night, Florida took its first lead at 14:59 of the third period. Mark Pysyk got open in the slot, took a feed from Frank Vatrano and sent a 30-foot wrist shot through David Rittich's pads to make it 5-4.
Calgary responded at 17:17. Sam Bennett broke to the net off the sideboards, shot once, collected his own rebound when the puck didn't get through, and made good on his second chance.
"We got a big goal there, obviously, all of a sudden it's 5-4 (Florida) but then they get a fortunate bounce on their goal," said Panthers coach Joel Quenneville. "Then in overtime, anything can happen and we've been snake-bit a little bit in overtime and in the shoot out."
Florida has points in their last seven, but only three of the games have been wins.
"You want to squeeze out every point you can and when you come back the way we did from a 4-2 deficit, you try to find the positive in that," said Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad, who played in his 400th NHL game.
Sean Monahan also scored in the shootout for Calgary, who converted both tiebreaking attempts on Sergei Bobrovsky. Rittich thwarted Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov to pick up the victory.
"We're not sharp enough right now," said Giordano, who had a goal in regulation. "Neutral zone, D-zone, I think there were spurts again but we know it's not the way we want to play to win. We know we have to clean up a lot of areas."
Austin Czarnik also scored in regulation for Calgary (6-5-1).
Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Josh Brown and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for Florida (4-2-4). Barkov had four assists.
Flames coach Bill Peters thought they were in control when Giordano made it 4-2, but they quickly lost that control.
"We were in a good spot right there, and they pushed, we didn't handle it very well, recovered, broke down a little bit," Peters said. "Huge goal by (Bennett), he got us into overtime, and then the shootout."
It was a tough night for both goaltenders.
Rittich's five goals allowed came on 23 shots. Bobrovky faced 24.
"It’s a high-scoring game so it's obviously tough for goalies," said Bobrovsky. "Not many shots, but all of them pretty much scoring chances."
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. Monahan, held without a goal in his last 10 games, was stopped on a breakaway, then robbed on a one-timer on a power play. 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.
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