In Sunrise, the visiting Calgary Flames blew a 2-0 lead, as per NHL history this season, but recovered for a 5-4 win over the Panthers after penalty shots.
Rasmus Andersson was credited with the deciding goal in the skills competition.
“It’s kind of a move I’ve done for quite some time, and I took a few shootouts in Stockton (of the American Hockey League), and it worked back then,” Andersson said. “It was a long time ago. It was nice to see it gone in, but honestly, it was just nice to get a win. It was a much-needed one.”
Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves in the Flames win.
Calgary’s Jonathan Huberdeau had a strike in the skills competition in his return to Sunrise.
“It was good,” Huberdeau said. “Obviously here, obviously wanted to win, too, so yeah, it was big getting the goal in the shootout here. That was cool.”
Calgary improved to 8-7-2.
“It was a good game,” Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. “We fought back through a lot of adversity during the game.”
The Flames took the 2-0 lead on goals from Adam Ruzicka in the first period, and Nikita Zadorov in the second period.
“Need him to score, need him to contribute both ends of the ice,” Sutter said. “Did a good job. The line’s (Ruzicka, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli) been really good for us.”
Ruzicka hit for a double in the Calgary win.
Florida tied it, 2-2, on goals from Colin White and power play marker from Sam Reinhart.
Florida dropped to 9-7-2.
Ruzicka hit his second of the afternoon to give the Flames a 3-2 lead heading to the third period.
Florida;s Eetu Luostarinen tied the game, 3-3, with 72 seconds gone in the third.
Blake Coleman restored the lead for the +Flames at 4-3.
Florida forced the extra session when Matthew Tkachuk tied in the 16th minute of the third period.
“It felt good to get it to overtime,” Tkachuk said. “It felt like we were dominating them, yet it was somehow 4-3. They came out and played solid, didn’t give us much, but then we took over in the second period. It seemed like they were hanging on a little in the third, but they had some looks as well. It was back-and-forth in the third a little bit more than we would have liked.”
Spencer Knight made 31 saves in the Panthers loss.
“This was sort of a tight, even game where I did not think one team had a long stretch of dominance,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It was a pretty tentative start in the first, but we got going in the second. It is one of those games that, 20 years ago, would have ended in a tie, and you would have thought that was right.”
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