In Calgary, Mikael Backlund stripped the puck from the Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk in the neutral zone and broke in for a strike to snap a 1-1 tie and help send the Flames to a 3-1 win on Monday night. 
“We’ve got some players that can skate well, and if there’s a chance, we talked about that we don’t cheat for chances, but if the play’s there we go for it,” Backlund said. “If we can find a way to score some big goals, that’s big for the team.”
Blake Coleman added a late shorthanded, empty-net goal for a 3-2 final score in the win.
Jacob Markstrom made 33 saves, in his return from a fractured finger, to get the win.
“He was great,” Backlund said. “He played really well, really solid. Great to see him come in first game back and play that well. I’m really happy for him.”
The Flames moved to 13-14-5.
“Big win for us,” Markstrom said. “It was nice to be back in there.”
Calgary took a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza on a strike by Martin Pospisil at 8:45.
The Panthers dropped to 18-11-2.
“It is frustrating,” Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov said. “I think we were playing good for two periods there, getting a lot of chances. I think we just couldn’t get in front of [Markstrom’s] eyes, so he’s seeing a lot of those shots. He’s a good goalie. He stopped all the chances that we had in those two periods. We scored on a power play, that was big for us at the end of the first. Just put ourselves on our heels, took a lot of penalties in the third. They capitalized on one of their chances.”
Sam Reinhart tied the game, 1-1, with 31 seconds left in the first period.
The goal came with one second left on a Flames power play.
“I think we’ve left some out there,” Reinhart said. “We see some success. We see when we have the puck we’re playing well. It’s an easy one to learn from. It’s time to get back home, reenergize, and get ready for two big ones before Christmas.”
Anthony Stolarz made 22 saves in the loss.
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