Kadri helps Flames beat Panthers 5-3, sending Cup champs to 4th loss in 6 home games

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Nazem Kadri and Joel Farabee each had a goal and an assist, MacKenzie Weegar scored against his former team, and the Calgary Flames shook off a sleepy start to beat the Florida Panthers 5-3 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. Farabee sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:03 left.

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

Evan Rodrigues and Sam Bennett scored in the first 2:58 for Florida, which wasted a 2-0 lead — on home ice, no less — for the second consecutive 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 this season in games when they led by two or more goals at any point and 9-1-0 when scoring first. Rodrigues 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 games overall and four of their last six at home — seemed to be rolling.

Cooley changed all that in a hurry.

He made 17 saves before the first period was over, and the goals from Kuznetsov and Weegar — second-line defensemen — tied it at 2 going into the second. Calgary had a 5-on-3 power play that extended into the second period and that provided Frost the chance to put the Flames up 3-2 early in that middle frame by sweeping a rebound past Florida's Daniil Tarasov.

Flames: Visit Carolina on Sunday.

Panthers: Host Toronto on Tuesday.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Calgary Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) and teammates celebrate after he scored the team's second goal against the Florida Panthers during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell, right, and center Sam Reinhart attempt to score as Calgary Flames defenseman Brayden Pachal, left, and goaltender Devin Cooley, obscured, defend during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) and Florida Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) can't stop a shot by Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri (91), for the Flames fourth goal, during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) drives forward defended by Calgary Flames center Mikael Backlund (11) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Calgary Flames goaltender Devin Cooley (1) stops a shot as Florida Panthers center Jesper Boqvist (70) and Calgary Flames defenseman Yan Kuznetsov (37) look on, during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for California schools to tell parents if their children identify as transgender without getting the student's approval, granting an emergency appeal from a conservative legal group.

The order blocks for now a state law that bans automatic parental notification requirements if students change their pronouns or gender expression at school.

The split decision comes after religious parents and educators challenged California school policies aimed at preventing schools from outing students to their families. Two sets of Catholic parents represented by the Thomas More Society say it caused schools to mislead them and secretly facilitate the children's social transition despite their objections.

California, on the other hand, argued that students have the right to privacy about their gender expression, especially if they fear rejection from their families. The state said that school policies and state law are aimed at striking a balance with parents’ rights.

The high court majority, though, sided with the parents and reinstated a lower-court order blocking the law and school policies while the case continues to play out.

“The parents who assert a free exercise claim have sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and they feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs. California’s policies violate those beliefs,” and burden the free exercise of religion, the majority wrote in an unsigned order.

The court's three liberal justices publicly dissented, saying the case is still working its way through lower courts and there was no need to step in now. “If nothing else, this Court owes it to a sovereign State to avoid throwing over its policies in a slapdash way, if the Court can provide normal procedures. And throwing over a State’s policy is what the Court does today,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote.

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, noted they would have gone further and granted teachers' appeal to lift restrictions for them.

The Thomas More Society called the decision “the most significant parental rights ruling in a generation.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office defended the law, saying teachers should be focused on instruction, not required “to be gender cops.”

The order “undermines student privacy and the ability to learn in a safe and supportive classroom, free from discrimination based on gender identity,” said Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for the Democratic governor.

The Supreme Court has ruled for religious plaintiffs in other recent cases, including allowing parents to pull their children from public-school lessons if they object to storybooks with LGBTQ+ characters.

The California order comes months after the court upheld state bans on gender-identity-related healthcare for minors. The justices also seem to be leaning toward allowing states to ban transgender athletes from playing on girls sports teams.

School policies for transgender students, meanwhile, have also been on the court’s radar in other cases.

The court rebuffed another similar case out of Wisconsin in December, but three conservative justices indicated they would have heard the case. Justice Samuel Alito called the school policies “an issue of great and growing national importance.”

The Trump administration, meanwhile, found in January that California's policies violated parents' right to access their children's education records. The Justice Department also sued after determining the states' transgender athlete policies violate federal civil rights law.

FILE - The Supreme Court is photographed, Feb. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)