The Calgary Flames were alright in Thursday night’s game with the Florida Panthers. Playing against a team that’s a fair distance from the playoffs, the Flames could never quite find their second gear or bury their chances. They dropped a close one 3-2 to the Panthers in a shootout.

Neither team scored in a sleepy first period. Shots were 10-10 and the Panthers led 9-4 in chances, but neither side looked particularly dangerous.

The second period was very similarly-paced to the first – slow – until the Panthers scored with five minutes remaining in the period. Rasmus Andersson iced the puck. The Flames won the face-off, but Oliver Kylington’s attempted outlet pass was intercepted. A few passes later, and Mark Pysyk’s point shot was tipped by Evgeni Dadonov to make it 1-0 Florida.

Shots were 17-3 Flames and chances 9-7 Panthers in the second.

The Flames evened things up early in the third period. Off a rush, Mark Jankowski’s wrister through some traffic eluded James Reimer to make it 1-1. The Panthers challenged the goal due to a perceived off-sides, but the goal stood.

But Panthers retook the lead midway through the period. The Flames iced the puck, the Panthers won the face-off, and Mike Hoffman’s wrist shot beat Smith high to make it a 2-1 Panthers lead.

But the Flames managed to tie things with a couple minutes late. Rasmus Andersson’s point shot was redirected by Elias Lindholm to make it a 2-2 hockey game.

Shots were 15-5 Flames and chances were 7-2 Flames in the third.

Overtime solved nothing, as neither side could really bear down on their chances. In the shootout Sean Monahan scored for the Flames, while Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Panthers to secure a 3-2 victory.

The Flames weren’t great once again at even strength. Both Panthers goals came off sloppy decision-making leading to icings, and then compounded by being out-worked on the face-offs that followed. They were out-classed 10-5 by the Panthers in terms of high-danger chances at five-on-five.

That put the emphasis on special teams, and the Flames had five shots in eight minutes of power play time across four advantages. For such a high-octane, talented offensive group, the team’s key players really didn’t do enough with the opportunities they were given.

Jankowski was pretty good at five-on-five, had some chances on the penalty kill, and scored a nice goal.

Lindholm’s goal with just over two minutes left in regulation at least ensured the Flames got a point.

James Neal left the game midway through the second period with a lower-body injury. He made contact with Jayce Hawryluk along the boards and it appeared that one of his legs buckled.

The Flames (34-16-7) head to the Steel City. They play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon.