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Instant Reaction: Flames tame Panthers at the ‘Dome
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Mar 20, 2026, 23:39 EDTUpdated: Mar 20, 2026, 23:41 EDT
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Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below! 
The Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers thoroughly on Thursday night in Edmonton. On Friday night, the visited the Calgary Flames, and were not quite as sharp. The Flames, on the other hand, played quite well, and made the Panthers work for three periods.
The Flames scored first and never trailed on Friday night. They beat the Panthers by a 4-1 score.

The rundown

Neither team scored in the first period and things were pretty even and back and forth. There were not a ton of high-octane scoring chances for either team.
First period shots were 10-8 Flames.
7:44 into the second period, the Flames opened the scoring. Joel Farabee got the puck along the boards near the top of the circles and chucked it on net. Blake Coleman was battling out front with a Panthers defender and, with that chaos, the puck went in to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
A few minutes in, at 10:10, the Flames scored again. This time there was a bit of a broken play, with Adam Klapka getting caught up high with an errant puck. But he was aware enough to realize he had the puck, collect it, and then feed Victor Olofsson out front. Olofsson blasted a one-timer past Daniil Tarasov to make it 2-0 Flames.
Second period shots were 10-8 Flames.
Early in the third period, Florida got on the board. 4:17 into the frame, A.J. Greer fired a puck on net. With Kevin Bahl and Cole Reinhardt battling out front the puck beat Dustin Wolf to cut the Flames’ lead to 2-1.
Connor Zary was checked from behind by Greer in the numbers midway through the third period and went head-first into the boards awkwardly. He left the game and Greer was assessed a major and game misconduct. Zary got up under his own power, eventually, but did not return for the remainder of the game.
After a few additional penalties back and forth, the Flames got themselves a five-on-three advantage. Morgan Frost batted in a rebound on the two-man advantage to get the Flames a 3-1 lead.
Later on that power play, while it was a one-man advantage, Matt Coronato was sent in on a breakaway by Matvei Gridin and scored on the breakaway to make it 4-1 Flames.
The Flames held on for the win.
Third period shots were 16-9 Flames.

Why the Flames won

Well, the Flames were the Flames. They played a structured game. They kept things largely low event. They scored off simple, smart plays. The Panthers were playing their second game in as many nights, and at times they looked it. But the home side did what they could to make it tough on them, and that’s all you can hope for.

Red Warrior

Joint award to the line of Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman and Joel Farabee. They were superb.

Turning point

The Flames were the better team until the late power plays, but they managed to pull away pretty decisively in the back half of the third period.

This and that

Dustin Wolf started in net.
This was the first of the final 50 regular season games at the Saddledome for the Flames before they move to Scotia Place to begin the 2027-28 season.
The Flames unveiled their ‘Dome farewell season logo during the game.

After Burner

Join the In The Dome boys right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (28-34-7) return to action on Sunday evening when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning.

PRESENTED BY STAKE

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