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NBA Cup 2025: Quarterfinal knockout-round games set, see schedule, breakdown of matchups

We are on to the knockout round.

There was plenty of drama on the final night of NBA Cup group play, with the Magic, Thunder, and Spurs winning their way in, while losses by the Cavaliers and Pistons opened the door for Miami to make it in as a Wild card.

Here are the four quarterfinal games, with how the teams got there and some quick analysis.

Eastern Conference

Miami Heat at Orlando Magic

Dec. 9
How they got here: Orlando clinched East Group B and the No. 1 overall seed with a win over Detroit on Friday. That Pistons loss, plus a Cavaliers loss, opened the door and Miami walked through it to advance as the Wild Card with a 3-1 record.

Game Analysis: Orlando has found its footing and gone 6-2 with Paolo Banchero out — the team is making quick decisions, the ball is moving, the pace is up and the Magic's elite defense from a season ago is starting to round into form. By this game on Dec. 9 Banchero is expected to be back in the lineup, but can he fit in with what has been working in Orlando — the model for that might be Tyler Herro in Miami. The Heat began the season without their All-Star, but the combination of a new-style attacking offense that shuns picks in favor of isolation attacks, as well as brilliant play from Norman Powell, has made the Heat one of the best stories of the first quarter of the NBA Season. When Herro returned, he blended right into this system and made it even better. If Banchero can't do that or Orlando struggles at all, this Heat team will exploit it.

New York Knicks at Toronto Raptors

Dec. 9
How they got here: Toronto advanced as the No. 2 seed with a 4-0 record in NBA Cup play, but it had clinched its spot a week ago with a win over Washington. New York secured its spot by beating Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee on Friday and clinching Group B, thanks to some big Duece McBride 3-pointers helping the team pull away in the fourth.

Game Analysis: The RJ Barrett revenge game? Styles make fights and this is a good one. Toronto wants to run — it starts more of its possessions in transition than any team in the league, and it's got the athletes who can finish in space with Barrett, Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley. The Knicks are bottom 10 in the league in percentage of plays that start in transition, but they have the league's sixth-best first-shot halfcourt offense behind Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. Which team dictates the style of game wins here, and when the Knicks do slow the game down, can Brandon Ingram dominate in the halfcourt for the Raptors?

Western Conference

Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder

Dec. 10
How they got here: This game will be a rematch of the one we saw Friday night, which the Thunder won 123-119 behind 37 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. With that, the Thunder won West Group A, but the Suns were still 3-1 in group play and had the point differential to advance as the Wild Card.

Game Analysis: Nobody has been able to slow down the 19-1 Thunder this season, but Phoenix showed how it can give them a game — and why the Suns have been one of the surprise teams of the NBA this season — with its balanced attack. Sure, SGA had the headlines, but Oklahoma City got Jalen Williams back on Friday, and while his shot looked understandably rusty (this was his first game back following offseason wrist surgeries), he finished with 11 points, eight assists, and he played some high-level defense. Phoenix had six players score in double digits, led by Collin Gillespie with 24 and Devin Booker with 21. Phoenix has been a surprise this season, but they're legit, and this will be a big stage for them to show the rest of the NBA just that.

San Antonio at Los Angeles Lakers

Dec. 10
How they got here: The Lakers clinched West Group B on Tuesday night with a convincing win over the Clippers, then secured home court Friday with a victory over Anthony Davis and Dallas (a game played on a regular NBA court after Luka Doncic called the Lakers’ one “dangerous” after the Clippers game; the NBA Cup court is supposed to be back for this game). The win against Dallas summed up the Lakers this season: The Mavs made a fourth-quarter push and took a one-point lead, then Doncic and Austin Reaves took over on their way to a combined 73 points on the night (LeBron James is now a very good third option in Los Angeles).

San Antonio won West Group C by beating Denver — and doing it without Victor Wembanyama or Stephon Castle, both out injured (it's unlikely that Wemby is back for this coming NBA Cup game). Devin Vassell was 7-of-9 from 3-point range on his way to 35 points for San Antonio, who also got 25 points and 10 boards from Julian Champagnie, who is having a strong season in Texas.

Game Analysis: San Antonio has gone an impressive 5-1 without Wembanyama, thanks to great play from DeAaron Fox leading the fifth-best offense in the league over that stretch. That will make an intriguing matchup against a Lakers team with an elite offense behind Doncic — who is playing like an MVP and leads the league in scoring at 35.1 per game — and just enough defense. Bet the over on this one, then grab the popcorn, it should be entertaining.

When are the NBA Cup quarterfinals, Finals

Here is the schedule for the quarterfinals and beyond:

Quarterfinals: Dec. 9 and 10 (at home of higher-seeded team)

Semifinals: Dec. 13 (Las Vegas)

Championship: Dec. 16 (Las Vegas)

How much money does the champion get?

Make no mistake, for the players it is all about the money — and the teams that have advanced this far will get some payday, but they all have their eye on the big prize.

"I think half a million dollars is still a good amount of money to be able to motivate you to want to win games," the Lakers' Jake LaRavia told NBC Sports.

Players on teams that advance out of the group stage receive bonuses from a league-sponsored prize pool, with teams that advance further receiving more. It breaks down this way:

• Each player on the team that wins the championship: $530,933

• Each player on the team that loses in the championship: $212,373

• Each player on a team that loses in the semifinals: $106,187

• Each player on a team that loses in the quarterfinals: $53,093

How to Watch the NBA on NBC and Peacock

Peacock NBA Monday will stream up to three Monday night games each week throughout the regular season. Coast 2 Coast Tuesday presents doubleheaders on Tuesday nights throughout the regular season on NBC and Peacock. On most Tuesdays, an 8 p.m. ET game will be on NBC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones, and an 8 p.m. PT game on NBC stations in the Pacific and often Mountain time zones. Check local listings each week. Both games will stream live nationwide on Peacock. NBC Sports will launch Sunday Night Basketball across NBC and Peacock on Feb. 1, 2026. For a full schedule of the NBA on NBC and Peacock, click here.

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Top 100 Hockey Players 21-And-Under: The Top 20

The online countdown of the top 100 hockey players aged 21-and-under comes to an end with the top 20.

The Hockey News' Prospects Unlimited issue's annual ranking of hockey's youngest talent is compiled by Ryan Kennedy, and while he uses our Future Watch rankings as a resource, this is a completely independent compilation.

Future Watch is based on a survey of NHL scouts, while the PU Top 100 is cobbled together by Kennedy based on his projections of what the players will be once they hit their primes.

Since different positions have different prime years, take that to mean we are projecting how good these forwards will be when they are 23 or 24 years old, the defensemen when they are 24 or 25 and the goalies when they are 25 or 26.

The birth year cutoff for this year’s list is 2004. Ages noted are as of Oct. 1.

As we share the top 100 list on TheHockeyNews.com, you can see the full list with player bios and draft information for each of them right now by being a subscriber to The Hockey News and accessing the Archive or by opening the magazine if you've already received it in your mailbox.

Catch up on the players ranked 21st to 40th, 41st to 60th, 61st to 80th and 81st to 100th.   

20. Keaton Verhoeff, D, 17 years old, North Dakota Fighting Saints
NHL Draft: 2026

19. Porter Martone, RW, 18, Philadelphia Flyers
Michigan State (Big Ten)

Tij Iginla (Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images)

18. Tij Iginla, C, 19, Utah Mammoth
Kelowna (WHL)

17. Juraj Slafkovsky, LW, 21, Montreal Canadiens
Montreal (NHL)

16. Zayne Parekh, D, 19, Calgary Flames
Calgary (NHL)

15. Artyom Levshunov, D, 19, Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago (NHL)

14. Landon DuPont, D, 16, Everett Silvertips (WHL)
NHL Draft: 2027

13. Anton Frondell, C, 18, Chicago Blackhawks
Djurgarden (Swe.)

12. Michael Misa, C, 18, San Jose Sharks
San Jose

11. Zeev Buium, D, 19, Minnesota Wild
Minnesota (NHL)

The super-skilled blueliner may have only just finished his college career, but he's already seen some big-game NHL action.  Go to the full feature on Buium by clicking here.   

Beckett Sennecke (Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images)

10. Beckett Sennecke, RW, 19, Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim (NHL)

9. Matthew Schaefer, D, 18, New York Islanders
NY Islanders (NHL)

8. Matvei Michkov, RW, 20, Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia (NHL)

7. Ivan Demidov, RW, 19, Montreal Canadiens
Montreal (NHL)

6. Leo Carlsson, C, 20, Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim (NHL)

5. Lane Hutson, D, 21, Montreal Canadiens
Montreal (NHL)

4. Gavin McKenna, LW, 17, Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten)
NHL Draft: 2026

Adam Fantilli (Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)

3. Adam Fantilli, C, 21, Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus (NHL)

2. Connor Bedard, C, 20, Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago (NHL)

Although the Blackhawks have struggled the past two years, they have one of the game's premier young stars in Connor Bedard. If they can continue to get better and add help, other teams better watch out.  Go to the full feature on Bedard by clicking here.   

1. Macklin Celebrini, C, 19, San Jose Sharks
San Jose

There's no denying the fact it's been a tough cruise for the Sharks the past few years. But with Macklin Celebrini leading the way, San Jose is posed to get back on track.  Go to the full feature on Celebrini by clicking here.

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Wales 0-73 South Africa: Autumn Nations Series rugby union – as it happened

The Springboks delivered their autumn clean sweep of Europe with a record defeat of Wales in Cardiff

6 mins. It’s taken six minutes, but the first scrum penalty is awarded against Wales after the Boks drop the hammer and shove the Welsh pack back to Bridgend, splintering it along the way.

4 mins. Two passes are all that’s needed from the Boks to get Moodie running outside Mee on the blindside . The SA winger then completely airswipes his attempt to kick the ball forward to start a foot race with the retreating defence which cues some laughs from the crowd. Gotta take your fun where you can find it at Wales games these days…

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Warriors reveal when De'Anthony Melton could make return from ACL injury

Warriors reveal when De'Anthony Melton could make return from ACL injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Warriors could get a positive reinforcement soon.

Veteran guard De’Anthony Melton, who has been sidelined for more than a year while recovering from a torn ACL, could make his 2025-26 NBA season debut during Golden State’s upcoming three-game road trip that begins Dec. 4 against the Philadelphia 76ers, per an update issued by the team on Saturday.

The Warriors, who currently are in the midst of a five-game homestand, say Melton continues to make good progress and has been a full participant in recent practices, but he won’t appear in the next few games at Chase Center.

Melton also has scrimmaged in various settings.

The 27-year-old tore his ACL less than one month into the 2024-25 season and underwent surgery on Dec. 4, 2024. He was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in December but re-signed with Golden State during the 2025 offseason.

In six games with the Warriors, Melton averaged 10.3 points on 40.7-percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent from 3-point range, with 3.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.2 steals in 20.2 minutes.

His anticipated return comes at a good time for the Warriors, who currently hold a 10-10 record after a frustrating start to the 2025-26 season.

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Manchester City 3-2 Leeds, Sunderland 3-2 Bournemouth, and more – Premier League live

Manchester City, Brentford and Sunderland all win, while Championship leaders Coventry City come from behind to record another victory

Manchester City v Leeds United: A lovely dank Mancunian afternoon with a low cloud and the whispers of bygone Manchester City matchdays in the east of town as Pep Guardiola sends out an XI in an hour or so that will not certainly show the same 10 changes as the dire Bayer Leverkusen defeat on Tuesday here at the Etihad Stadium.

Expect many of the manager’s big guns to be reinstated and intent on downing Leeds and arresting the two-game run of losses. Think Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku etc, and so on …

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Championship roundup: Coventry storm on; brawl mars Hull win at Stoke

  • Coventry stay 10 points clear with win over Charlton

  • Gelhardt’s Hull winner sparks mass confrontation

Coventry maintained their 10-point lead at the top of the Championship with a 3-1 victory over Charlton. Harvey Knibbs put the visitors ahead before Josh Eccles and Ellis Simms completed a first-half turnaround for the hosts. Simms added his second with 15 minutes to go to make it five goals in three games.

“I’m really pleased,” said their manager, Frank Lampard. “Tough match to go 1-0 down, from a set-piece, the first threat that they had. But I thought the attitude of the players to keep playing in the first half was good, they moved the ball well. We’re a positive team, we try to create chances, we try to play with speed and with a good pre-season the players understand what we want to be, how we want to train and we’ve managed to score a lot of goals.”

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Three Potential Trade Fits For Predators' Ryan O'Reilly

Everything is going horribly for the Nashville Predators this season. They currently have an 8-12-4 record and are at the very bottom of the NHL standings.

With the Predators having another nightmare season, they are emerging as likely sellers. One player who has been generating a lot of chatter in the rumor mill due to this is veteran forward Ryan O'Reilly. 

O'Reilly is certainly a player that playoff clubs would love to get their hands on. Mainly because the 34-year-old forward is still an impactful two-way center with a Stanley Cup on his resume. His contract also adds to his appeal, as he has a very reasonable $4.5 million cap hit until the end of the 2026-27 season.

With all of this, let's take a look at three teams that could be great fits for O'Reilly if the Predators officially move him. 

Montreal Canadiens

In a recent episode of TSN Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun reported that the Canadiens are one of the teams interested in O'Reilly. With the Habs needing help at the center position, it would be excellent for the franchise if they won the O'Reilly sweepstakes.

If the Canadiens acquired O'Reilly, he would give them a prime upgrade for their second-line center spot. He would also be a great mentor for the Canadiens' young players to have around as the Original Six club looks to continue to trend in the right direction. 

Ryan O'Reilly (© Tim Fuller-Imagn Images)

New Jersey Devils 

The Devils also stand out as a potential suitor for O'Reilly. It's also worth noting that the Devils were reportedly interested in him leading up to the 2025 NHL trade deadline.

If the Devils landed O'Reilly, their center depth would be among the NHL's best once Jack Hughes returns from injury, as they would have a trio of Hughes, Nico Hischier, and O'Reilly, which would be simply lethal. 

Detroit Red Wings

O'Reilly and the Red Wings could also be a wonderful match. When looking at the Red Wings' current forward group, it is fair to argue that they could use another impactful center. Bringing in a player like O'Reilly would provide them with just that, and he could slot perfectly as their second-line center.

Furthermore, with the Red Wings being a team on the rise, looking to make the playoffs, adding a veteran who has had plenty of success, like O'Reilly, could help improve their chances.

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Josh Hart proving highly effective as Knicks' wild card contributor

The Knicks are a team built on consistency. Jalen Brunson is a sure bet to score efficiently almost every night while manipulating his way into scores via pull-up jumpers. Karl-Anthony Towns has recorded a double-double in all but three games. Mikal Bridges has never missed a game in his eight-year career.

Consistency is great. But every now and then, a wild card that can change the pace or tenor of a game is needed. That wild card for the Knicks is Josh Hart. After a slow start to the season, Hart has come on as of late, and it’s helping the team weather injuries on the perimeter to OG Anunoby and Landry Shamet. 

After beginning the season as a reserve, Hart has emerged as a starter, replacing Mitchell Robinson. He brings a jolt of energy to the game with versatility, mad dashes in transition and hustle plays. 

The Knicks' 118-109 home win over the Bucks on Friday night propelled the club into the knockout round of the NBA Cup tournament. Hart was everywhere in the victory, notching 19 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. With Anunoby out, Hart stepped up to take on the Giannis Antetokounmpo defensive assignment despite a severe size deficit.

The performance against the Bucks has been the norm for Hart. His efficiency has picked up as he’s padded the entire stat sheet. In the last 13 games, he's averaging 13.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists. He has also found the range, shooting 40.1 percent from beyond the arc during that time. 

On the rebound

Hart’s had his ups and downs from outside throughout his career. He still needs to be aggressive as a scorer to keep defenses honest. Teams will sag off him even more if he’s not, mucking up driving lanes for Brunson and Towns.

He has shot better so far this season, but Hart is a career 34.2 percent three-point shooter. To weaken the Brunson-Towns pick-and-roll, many opponents put a wing on Towns while hiding their center on Hart.

In Friday's win, the Bucks had Myles Turner guard Hart down the stretch while Antetokounmpo checked Towns. The Knicks looked to bring Turner into every Brunson pick-and-roll. As the Bucks blitzed Brunson, it allowed Hart to attack in the short roll.  He had a couple of good opportunities to create. One key play was Hart finding Miles McBride for an open corner three out of a short roll.

Hart’s first four games were a struggle -- he scored just 11 points on 4-for-19 shooting. During the spell, he was out of sorts, passing up open looks. 

It’s not a shock that Hart played poorly to begin the season. A back injury kept him out for most of the preseason and the season opener. Anerve injury in his right hand has also been a setback. The start of this season was an adjustment for Hart, who was coming off the bench. He started all 77 games he played in last year. 

One of head coach Mike Brown’s goals with the Knicks was to get them to play faster and create easier scoring opportunities. Hart’s ability to push the pace is an underrated skill that the Knicks could use more often. They average 16.1 fastbreak points per 100 possessions when Hart is on the floor, versus just 12.8 fastbreak points per 100 possessions when he sits, per NBA Stats. 

After the Knicks' starting five of Brunson, Bridges, Anunoby, Hart and Towns crumbled in the playoffs last year, the group has looked better so far in the new season. In 40 minutes, this five-man unit is plus-24.2 points per 100 possessions, per NBA Stats. With the added playmaking from Hart, it might make sense to revisit the starting lineup permanently once Anunoby returns.

Hart can go into prolonged shooting slumps, pile up careless turnovers and make questionable decisions. But he’s been consistently effective over the past month. If Hart continues to play this well, it will be hard to keep him out of the starting five going forward.

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Kings get two regular-season games added to schedule after NBA Cup results

Kings get two regular-season games added to schedule after NBA Cup results originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

More Kings basketball is on the way.

The NBA added two regular-season games to Sacramento’s schedule next month following the results of the Emirates NBA Cup.

First, the Kings will host the Denver Nuggets at 7 p.m. PT on Thursday, Dec. 11 at Golden 1 Center. Then they will head to Minnesota three nights later for a matchup with the Timberwolves at 4 p.m. PT on Sunday, Dec. 14.

Sacramento went 0-4 in Cup action in West Group A, having lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz.

Entering Friday’s game against the Jazz, the Kings already were eliminated from advancing in the Cup. They fell to Utah 128-119 and now hold a 5-15 record.

The reigning NBA champion Thunder have a flawless 4-0 record in group play.

After Friday, the eight teams that will advance are set: Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns.

From this point on, it’s a single-elimination tournament featuring the eight remaining teams.

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Canadiens Face Blast From The Past In Colorado

The Montreal Canadiens are in Denver today to take on the Colorado Avalanche, one of the league's hottest teams. Nathan MacKinnon currently leads the scoring race with 39 points in just 23 games, while linemates Martin Necas (30 points) and Artturi Lehkonen (21 points) are also flying high. As always, Cale Makar leads all defensemen in points with 30, seven points ahead of his nearest pursuer, Josh Morrissey.

After making way for Samuel Montembeault for Friday afternoon’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Jakub Dobes will be back in the Habs’ net this afternoon. The Czech rookie faced the Colorado Avalanche once in his young career, his second game last January. The netminder was named the first star of the match after backstopping the Habs to a 2-1 shootout win, stopping 22 of the 23 shots he faced in regulation and the two shots he faced in the shootout, finishing the night with a .957 save percentage. This is the kind of play the Sainte-Flanelle will need from him on Saturday afternoon.

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The offence will have its work cut out for it, too, since the Avalanche are getting some of the best goaltending in the league this season. The tandem formed by Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood has been firing on all cylinders. The former has a .918 SV while the latter has an impressive .928 SV.

In fact, Wedgewood is doing so well that he’s been mentioned as a goaltending possibility for Team Canada at the Olympics. The national side must think outside the box, given that Adin Hill is injured and both Montembeault and Jordan Binnington are struggling this season.

However, Wedgewood, who has played most of the Avalanche game this season, has only faced the Habs once and came out on the losing end of the duel with a 4.45 GAA and a .778 SV. That could have been encouraging news for the Canadiens, but Blackwood’s record against the Habs is almost flawless. He’s 5-0-2 against the Sainte-Flanelle and has a 2.47 GAA and a .922 SV. Since Wedgewood was in the net on Friday against the Minnesota Wild, expect Blackwood to be in the crease on Saturday.

The Avalanche are 6-3-1 in the last 10 duels between the two sides, and they’ve won the last one, a 5-4 shootout win last March while Montembeault was in net, allowing four goals on 37 shots. Colorado was riding a ten-game winning streak until it lost 3-2 in the shootout to the Wild on Friday night.

The Canadiens will need to keep a close eye on scoring race leader Nathan MacKinnon, the center has seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 19 games against the Habs. As for former Canadiens player Lehkonen, he’s got five points in as many games against his former team, while stud defenseman Makar has 10 points in just nine duels with the Sainte-Flanelle.

Up front for the Canadiens, Cole Caufield will look to extend his point streak to at least 7; he has two goals and five assists over the last six games. The sniper has only four points in six games against Saturday afternoon’s hosts, and now would be a good time to increase that production. As for Zachary Bolduc, who has five points in the last two games, he’s got three goals in five duels with the Avs and will be eager to keep his own point streak going. Meanwhile, captain Nick Suzuki has nine points in as many games against Colorado.

Puck drop is set for 3:00 PM and you can catch the game on ALT, TSN2, RDS. 

After the duel, Montreal will be making its way back home and will enjoy a deserved day off on Sunday before getting back to work in Brossard with a practice scheduled for 10:30 AM on Monday in readiness for the duel with the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Center on Tuesday night.

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.

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Three takeaways: Strong start may have doomed Panthers, who left way too much meat on the bone

It’s been a rough holiday week for the Florida Panthers.

Over the past few days, the Panthers have lost consecutive games on home ice for the first time this season, a pair of defeats that that bookend the Thanksgiving holiday.

Florida was outscored 9-5 in losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and Calgary Flames, with the latter defeat stinging a bit more due to the combination of familiar faces on the Flames bench and the poor record they arrived in Sunrise with.

Now the Cats get a few days to lick their wounds and figure out how to get back on the winning side of things.

Let’s get to Friday’s takeaways:

OVERCONFIDENT?

Things felt like they were going Florida’s way early in this one.

Before the first period was three minutes old, the Panthers already had a multi-goal lead.

Those two goals were on the team’s first two shots, but Florida failed to build on their momentum and instead allowed Calgary to get the game back to even by the second TV timeout.

For a team like Calgary that has struggled for much of the season but only recently started to find some consistency, they saw a window of opportunity to pounce on the Panthers and boy did they take it.

“When you score two like that, you think you're going to just generate all you want, and when that doesn't happen, you get some frustration built into your game,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “We didn't move the puck very easily tonight, but the expectation that we should isn't realistic. We would have to closer support, and probably suffer the things that frustrate us a little bit a little bit differently, a little change in mindset on what our expectations are every time we touch the puck.”

TOO MUCH MEAT ON BONE

Scoring three goals on 40 shots is usually a recipe for victory.

Three goals isn’t a ton, but recaching the 40-shot milestone generally indicates a night where you possessed the puck quite a bit, or at least enough to make a three-goal output stand up.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, that was not the case on Friday afternoon.

Flames goaltender Devin Cooley was outstanding, stopping eight of Florida’s 10 high danger shots and holding them to just the three goals on a day there the Panthers’ expected goals was 5.96.

It didn’t help that 31 of Florida’s shot attempts were blocked on their way to the net.

“We got 85 shot attempts. It's fine. You get 39 to the net, but you've left an awful lot of zone time,” said Maurice. “Some are good blocks. Their team gets paid too, and we have to be mindful of that. And then I thought, maybe two areas: There were one on one battles where we weren't quite as good as we will need to be to expect to win a game, and then a little slowness in our offensive game.”

GOOD TIME FOR DAYS OFF

After dropping back-to-back contests on home ice, the Panthers will get three days between games to (as their starting goaltender would say) reset, regroup and refocus.

While you never want to go into a period of off time on a down note, the positive is that this will give Maurice and his staff a chance to break down the areas they feel the team is struggling and deliver those adjustments to the team.

“You've got to take the chances that you have to recover, but at the same time, we got a whole bunch of stuff we got to work on and get better, so this will be a good chance for us to do that,” Maurice said.

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Photo caption: Nov 28, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Calgary Flames goaltender Devin Cooley (1) makes a save against Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)