The Calgary Flames (24-37-7, 61 points) continue their last big homestand of the 2025-26 season on Friday night when they welcome the Florida Panthers (34-31-3, 71 points), two-time defending Stanley Cup champions and vanquishers of the Edmonton Oilers, back to town. It’s the second half of a back-to-back for the Fancy Cats, who beat Edmonton on Thursday night coincidentally. Can the Flames win a second consecutive game?

Today’s broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Joel Farabee
Matvei Gridin – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Ryan Strome – Connor Zary
Victor Olofsson – Martin Pospisil – Adam Klapka

Kevin Bahl – Zach Whitecloud
Olli Maatta – Hunter Brzustewicz
Joel Hanley – Zayne Parekh

Based on intel from the rink from Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg: we’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The projected extras are Brayden Pachal, Tyson Gross, John Beecher and Ryan Lomberg. Basically: no changes from a lineup that beat the Blues on Wednesday evening.

The Flames are 3-4-0 since the trade deadline. Tied for the team’s lead in points, with five apiece, are Ryan Strome and Joel Farabee. Farabee’s been quite effective for much of the season, but Strome has also been quite good in red. The Flames are a team that works really hard and defends fairly well, but they just have trouble scoring.

Well, now even moreso than they did before the trade deadline. The Flames need to out-work and out-battle their foes to have a chance to win.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Evan Rodrigues – Mackie Samoskevich
Cole Reinhardt – Tomas Nosek – Luke Kunin

Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov – Michael Benning

We’re projecting Daniil Tarasov to start in net, backed up by Sergei Bobrovsky. Their extras against Edmonton were Vinnie Hinostroza, Nolan Foote, Donovan Sebrango and Uvis Balinskis, so we’ll see who rotates in on the second half of the back-to-back.

The Panthers beat Edmonton on Thursday by a 4-0 score. They’re 4-2-0 since the trade deadline. Old friend Matthew Tkachuk has nine points over the past six games. Sam Bennett has five points in five games since the deadline. Despite this recent success, the Panthers enter Friday’s action 13 points out of a playoff spot. Their Cup streak will be broken this year, but they’re hoping to ensure that their playoff absence won’t be a lengthy one.

The Flames are without Sam Honzek, Jake Bean, Jonathan Huberdeau and Yan Kuznetsov.

The Panthers are without Aleksander Barkov, Cole Schwindt, Jonah Gadjovich, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart.

This is the second and final meeting between these teams this season. The Flames beat the Panthers in Sunrise back in November.