Kadri helps the Flames beat the Panthers for their fourth loss in six home games

SUNRISE, Fla. – Nazem Kadri and Joel Farabi each had a goal and an assist, McKenzie Wager scored against his former team, and the Calgary Flames got off to a sleeper start with a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday.

Yan Kuznetsov got his first NHL goal and Morgan Frost got the goal that put Calgary ahead for good, as the Flames won for the fourth time in five games. Farabi sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:03 left.

Devin Cooley scored on the first two shots he saw, then stopped the next 30 for Calgary.

Evan Rodriguez and Sam Bennett scored in the first 2:58 for Florida, which squandered a 2-0 lead — on home ice, no less — for the second straight game, after falling 4-2 to Philadelphia on Wednesday. Brad Marchand scored midway through the third, his 15th of the season for Florida.

Before Wednesday, the Panthers were 9-0-0 in games this season when they led by two or more goals at any point and 9-1-0 when they scored the first goal. Rodriguez scored in the opening minute, Bennett made it 2-0 two minutes later and the Panthers — who have now lost three of their last four overall and four of their last six at home — got rolling.

Cooley changed all that in a hurry.

He made 17 saves before the first period ended, and goals from Kuznetsov and Weegar — second-line defensemen — tied it at two going into the second. Calgary had a five-on-three power play that extended into the second period and that gave Frost a chance to put the Flames up 3-2 early in that middle frame by striking out Florida’s Daniel Tarasov.

Films: Visit Carolina on Sunday.

Panthers: Host Toronto on Tuesday.