First period
- It’s nice to hear Dan Robertson on the TSN call.
- Montreal looks okay to start. The players on both teams are still trying to digest the last of their turkey before the pace ramps up to its typical level.
- A few travelers begin a “Go Habs Go!” chant in the crowd.
- Dobes flashes the glove to make his second save. That’s a statement you just didn’t say about Cayden Primeau, whose hands skills were lacking.
- We shouldn’t be surprised at this point, but it’s the Evans line that gets Montreal’s first real pressure.
- Dobes makes a save and takes a whack, and the Habs players are having none of that.
- I know Josh Anderson’s hands aren’t the best, but Christian Dvorak insisting on passing the puck to his knees is no solution.
- Montreal gets the game’s first power play, and that means Patrik Laine will have a chance to open the scoring. Even though David Savard is bleeding, it’s only a minor penalty for high-sticking for some reason.
- First Nick Suzuki goes on an end-to-end rush and nearly score on his own
- Laine takes a shot from the right circle this time, but Spencer Knights grabs it.
- Montreal catches Florida on a bad change, but it’s Drovak who gets the chance and that’s all I need to say.
- Dobes clamps down on another shot from distance. He’s not allowing any rebounds to start.
- It’s clearly an afternoon game, but Montreal was only as disjointed as the Panthers were in that period, and they’ll take an even 20 minutes with the Panthers.
Second period
- An early chance for Montreal thanks to some good work from Juraj Slafkovský.
- Lane Hutson is forced to make a stop as defence partner Mike Matheson gets beat at the point.
- Florida is beginning to test Dobes more often, but he’s calmly directing pucks to the corner with his blocker.
- Laine doesn’t get a five-on-five goal, or even a point, but he does have the tertiary assist on the opening goal as Kirby Dach puts Montreal in the lead after a nice passing play.
- I noticed Laine copied Cole Caufield’s celebration by coming up behind the goal-scorer and wrapping his arms around him. Dach probably needed a hug anyway.
- Once more Dobes absorbs a shot after a long sequence in Montreal’s zone, He’s looking very solid today.
- Another good scoring chance for the Dach line. It bodes very well for this long road trip if that line starts producing.
- Hutson just fought off his man in the neutral zone and carried the puck up ice in transition on its own. That’s not something I would have thought he was capable of before the season.
- Hutson joins a rush with the top line, and it ends with Caufield ripping a shot off the crossbar.
- Florida now has an advantage of eight shots, but Montreal is forcing most of those to come from distance.
- Another long presence by the Panthers, another smothered puck by Dobes on the only shot they’re able to generate.
- A.J. Greer and Arber Xhekaj drop the gloves. The fight ends with Greer hiding in Xhekaj’s armpit.
- Dach gets another big hug from Laine. It’s 2-0 Montreal as he scores on a breakaway.
- This could be a very interesting end to the season.
- Dvorak takes a slashing penalty and forces his team to defend with four players for two minutes or less.
- Jake Evans fights hard to get the puck out of the zone. The Panthers get lackadaisical with their recovery, and ultimately Evans scores short-handed. He has goals in each of his last four games.
- Florida had a big push to start, but the second period was a very good one from Montreal. they get a nice cheer from the fans in attendance.
Third period
- This is probably going to be a busy period for Dobes. Can the team keep the shots coming from range in the final 20 minutes?
- In the first minute, Montreal already has two more shots than I expected them to have in this frame.
- I think that was Dobes’s first rebound allowed in the game, but he stopped the second chance.
- Emil Heineman gets hooked in transition. There’s no penalty, but at least the Panthers player took himself out of the play to allow a couple of chances.
- Very good transition play started by Caufield at his own goal line, through his two linemates, back to him for a backhand chance. This is an impressive showing with a three-goal lead.
- Florida is now trying stretch passes. There can be no better review of Montreal’s defensive effort than that.
- With six minutes to play, an “Olé!” chant rings out at Amerant Bank Arena.
- And the noise only grows as Caufield flies past Aaron Ekblad, takes a pass from Slafkovský, and makes it 4-0.
- The Panthers fans decide there are better things they could be doing on a Saturday afternoon. The ratio of Habs fans goes up.
- Dobes gets a shutout in his debut, a 4-0 win for Montreal.
- Had Dobes been called up for the game against Columbus, we might be talking about a five-game winning streak, but four out of five ain’t bad.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) It’s a proper shutdown pairing. Great trade.
2) The man just likes his pluses.
1) Thoroughly impressive debut.
