SUNRISE, Fla. _ Perhaps the Panthers should live in hotels during their homestands.
After what seemed to be a season-turning, franchise-record 5-0 road trip, the Panthers have come home to sunny Florida and laid two eggs to Western Conference foes, including a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames Friday at the BB&T Center.
It's the first time the Panthers have lost two consecutive games in regulation since Oct. 29. They're 14-11-7 at home and 14-11-3 on the road.
They also lost 4-3 to the Oilers on Wednesday, and both Edmonton and Calgary were coming off games against the Lightning the night before. The Flames and Panthers entered with 66 points and fighting for the final playoff spot in their respective conferences.
The Flames, who downed the Panthers 5-2 on Jan. 17, made it a clean Alberta season sweep of the Panthers (4-0) by Calgary and Edmonton. They have two games left on the homestand to redeem themselves, including a huge meeting with Ottawa on Sunday.
"There's so much parity across the league," Panthers coach Tom Rowe said after morning skate. "There are no easy games regardless of what the team's record is. Guys know what's at stake and they know they need to be ready."
Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo, who gave way to backup James Reimer the last two games, seemed to shake a month-long slump with a sterling performance in last week's 3-2 victory over the Kings. However, despite playing in his 964th career game to pass former Panthers netminder Ed Belfour into fourth place all-time among goalies, Luongo won't clip this one for his scrapbook, giving up four goals on 24 shots.
The Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 4:54 when their suddenly revived power play struck again. The second unit clicked when Reilly Smith weaved up ice before crossing it to Jussi Jokinen, who dropped it to Nick Bjugstad below the right faceoff circle for a bullet one-timer that Chad Johnson (36 saves) had no chance on.
The Panthers' third consecutive power-play goal over two games was Bjugstad's fifth goal of the season, but fourth in seven games. Jokinen has nine points (4-5) in eight games.
However, the Panthers lost momentum and their lead when defenseman Alex Petrovic fanned on a pass behind his own net. Seconds later, Sam Bennett knocked in a rebound at 8:57. Five minutes later the Flames led 3-1.
Mikael Backlund finished off a 2-on-1 break for his 19th goal at 10:16. Then at 13:51, Luongo couldn't handle the rebound on a routine wrist shot from Matthew Tkachuk that defenseman Deryk Engelland poked in.
The Panthers challenged for goalie interference with Michael Frolik in the crease, however, the puck was loose and the goal stood.
The Panthers, who erased three leads before losing to the Oilers, cut the deficit to 3-2 with 2:40 left in the period when Jonathan Huberdeau's pass set up Aleksander Barkov for a 3-on-1 rush. Barkov froze the defenseman and rifled in his 16th goal for his seventh lamp-lighter in his last eight games. Smith got the secondary assist and has seven helpers over seven games.
Trailing 3-2 after one, the Panthers had a few golden opportunities, but Johnson snuffed out Barkov's wrister on a 2-on-1 break. The Flames made it 4-2 at 6:19 when Matt Stajan zipped a pass across the goalmouth to Troy Bouwer, who got behind Michael Sgarbossa, for an open layup.
The Flames, who whipped the host Lightning 5-2, pulled off the Florida sweep and are now 4-0-1 in their last five.
