Calgary Flames’ Joel Farabee, left, celebrates his goal with teammates Blake Coleman, centre, and Mikael Backlund during NHL hockey action against the Florida Panthers in Calgary on Friday.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Victor Olofsson’s first goal as a Flame was the winner as Calgary defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1 in NHL action on Friday.
Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato also scored for Calgary (28-34-7). All three forwards reached 16 goals on the season, moving them into a tie for the team lead with Blake Coleman.
A.J. Greer replied with the lone goal for Florida (34-32-3), scoring his 13th goal to more than double his previous career high of six.
Dustin Wolf made 24 saves for the win, improving to 20-25-3.
Daniil Tarasov, who had 32 stops, lost for the sixth time in his last seven starts. He fell to 9-12-2.
Greer was ejected with 8:46 left in the third period after hooking Connor Zary and shoving the Flames forward headfirst into the boards.
Zary remained down for a few minutes before slowly skating off the ice accompanied by the club’s trainer. Greer was assessed a hooking minor, an interference major and a game misconduct. Calgary scored twice on the extended power play to put the game away.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Calgary took the lead for good at 7:44 of the second period when Farabee’s shot deflected in off the stick of Panthers defenceman Niko Mikkola.
Late in the third, Mikkola sustained what appeared to be a serious injury when he locked knees in an accidental collision with Calgary’s Ryan Strome, who was looking the opposite direction. Mikkola laid on the ice writhing in pain as he clutched at his left knee. He did not put any weight on it as he was helped off the ice.
Paul Maurice, coaching NHL career game No. 1,999, made three lineup changes. Forwards Anton Lundell and Mackie Samoskevich came out after Maurice said they got “banged up” in Thursday’s win in Edmonton. Gustav Forsling also sat out. Vinnie Hinostroza, Nolan Foote and Donovan Sebrango entered the lineup.
The Flames won two games in a row for the first time since February, when they beat Edmonton in their last game before the Olympic break and then defeated San Jose in their first game after it.
Less than three minutes after Calgary opened the scoring, the Flames made it 2-0 when Adam Klapka backhanded a pass to a wide-open Olofsson in the slot for a one-timer. Olofsson scored his first goal in seven games since arriving from Colorado in the Nazem Kadri trade.
Calgary has won seven straight home games against Florida. The Panthers’ last victory in the Scotiabank Saddledome was Feb. 17, 2018.