Luongo earns win in first game back

Mike Matheson scored twice and Aleksander Barkov had a goal and two assists on Saturday night to lead the Florida Panthers to a 6-3 victory over the Calgary Flames.

The beneficiary of all that offence was goaltender Roberto Luongo. In his first appearance since suffering a groin injury on Dec. 4, the 38-year-old made 30 saves for his first win since Nov. 27.

Evgenii Dadonov and Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist each for Florida (26-23-6). Jared McCann also scored as the Panthers win their fifth straight game on the road. They continue their current five-game road trip in Winnipeg on Sunday.

Thanks to seven wins in their last eight games, Florida has moved to within six points of the New York Islanders, who hold down the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.

Dougie Hamilton with his first career hat-trick supplied all the offence for Calgary (30-21-8). The NHL’s second-best team on the road (17-7-5), the Flames’ woes on home ice continue where they’re winless in their last six (03-3) and fall to 13-14-3 on the season.

Tied 1-1 after the first period, Florida blew the game open in the second with three goals in the opening seven minutes.

The decisive blows were back-to-back power-play goals just over two minutes apart.

At 58 seconds, Trocheck completed a nifty giveand-go with Barkov by slipping a shot past rookie goaltender David Rittich.