Preview: Calgary Flames vs Florida Panthers 1/17/17 (47/82)

The Flames open up a 3 game home stand with a visit from Jaromir Jagr and the Florida Panthers. The Flames come into this contest losers of 2 straight and 3 of their last 4. Somehow the Flames have managed to hold onto the 7 spot in the Western Conference with regards to the playoffs. The Flames can’t take this Florida team lightly as they are are 2-3-0 in this last 5 against the Panthers at the Dome. The Flames have 2 very big games coming up after this contest against Nashville and Edmonton and the last time they had “trap game” they fell in the trap and lost to the Devils 2-1.

The Panthers come into this contest in 11th place in the East and it’s not that far of a climb back into the playoff picture. Florida is in a 3 team log jam at 48 points and that’s only one point behind 8th place Carolina. The Panthers are 4-3-0 in the new year and have big time wins over Nashville and Columbus to hang their hats on.

Calgary and Florida are similar in a lot of aspects and on paper this should be an evenly matched contest. However, the last time these two teams met Sam Bennett went off to the tune of 4 goals in a 6-0 whitewashing of the Panthers. The Flames would love to see another effort like that and get themselves back in the win column. Here’s how the teams match-up:

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Last Time On The Ice

Calgary Flames 1 Edmonton Oilers 2 (SO)

The Flames last hit the ice on Saturday night and dropped 2-1 decision to the Oilers in a shoot out. Calgary fought hard and got very good goaltending from Brian Elliott, but couldn’t solve Cam Talbot in the shoot out round. Sean Monahan scored the Flames only goal, his second in as many nights, but it wasn’t enough to propel the Flames to victory. Here’s our recap, the highlights and stats from the contest.

Florida Panthers 4 Columbus Blue Jackets 3

The Panthers last hit the ice on Saturday as well and took down the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3. Shawn Thornton scored his first of the season, which was his 100th career point and James Reimer stopped 30 of 33 to get the win. Litter Box Cats has the recap and NHL.com has the highlights.

Players To Watch

Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images

Calgary Flames: Sean Monahan (C). Monahan hadn’t scored in 12 games until he pumped one in against the NJ Devils for the Flames only goal of the contest. The next night against Edmonton he scored the Flames only goal of the contest again. Two games and 2 goals after coming up empty in 12 straight. This isn’t to say Monahan is on some sort of tear, but it’s a good sign if the Flames centre can start to get hot. Monahan has 1 goal and 1 assist in his career against the Panthers, but he does have 5 points in his last 7 games.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Florida Panthers: Vincent Trocheck (C). The Florida centre has been hot lately and his ASG nod is well deserved. Trocheck has 7 points in his last 4 games, including back to back 2 point efforts against the Islanders and Blue Jackets. Of his 29 points so far this season, 15 have come on the road and he’s got 4 points in his last 5 meetings with the Flames.