First period
- A puck is sent quickly from Juraj Slafkovský across to Cole Caufield for an even quicker shot. Sergei Bobrovsky makes the save, but I don’t think he actually saw it.
- Hard on forecheck. Good offensive-zone movement. Support on the breakouts. The Canadiens have come to play today.
- A “Go Habs Go!” chant went dead silent the moment the Panthers got set up in Montreal’s zone. They were worried about a goal. But the defence held.
- Josh Anderson chips the puck in and then gets held on the wall as he tries to chase after it. That’s interference every time.
- The ref does call Florida for a slash moments later on another Anderson rush. He knows he missed the first one.
- One too many passes from the first unit, as has been common for the group.
- Just enough passes to set up Laine for a third time, It wasn’t in his wheelhouse, but he corralled it and slung the puck off the post and in.
Lane Hutson sets up Patrik Laine in his spot, and he RIPS this one bar-down. 1-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 8:26 PM
[image or embed]
- Another assist to Hutson.
- This is a pretty good game for Joshua Roy to be involved in. He has to match the level of all of his teammates if he wants ice time.
- Slafkovský got caught defending the crease when he should have been watching the pointman. Niko Mikkola walks right to the top of the circle for a shot, but Samuel Montembeault makes the save.
- Montreal is handling the Panthers’ cycle quite well in the first. They’ve only been able to get the puck off the wall a couple of times.
- Christian Dvorak takes a stick to the teeth, and Laine will report back to the office.
- Hutson just knocked down two clearing plays by the Panthers. Both ended up going out of the zone, but he showed some incredible hand-eye coordination on both of them anyway.
- Unit number two comes on the ice, and Alex Newhook completes a nice passing play right across the top of the crease.
- It was Brendan Gallagher who had skated into the crease on the play, so that’s an automatic no goal. The NHL took about five seconds to complete that review.
I suppose I agree with a no-goal call on this one. It's only so hard because they have such a brutal lack of consistency with these calls.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 8:42 PM
[image or embed]
- It was the correct decision though. And too bad because the puck would have gone in anyway.
- Montreal really wants to get that goal right back.
- Montembeault makes a save on Carter Verhaeghe. A calm, composed deflection of the puck into the corner from close range. He looks sharp.
- Joel Armia started to leave the zone expecting to collect the puck after building up speed. Florida keeps it in, and then the Habs ice it. You have to be more assertive with possession in this game.
- Sam Bennett spears Hutson in the groin. Joke’s on him because Hutson hasn’t hit puberty yet.
- Florida keep handing the puck to Montreal in their own slot. The Habs haven’t made them pay for it yet.
- And just as I finished typing that Slafkovský picks off a pass in the middle of the zone, gives it to Caufield, and it’s another sling-shot goal past Bobrovsky.
Juraj Slafkovsky picks off an errant pass, sets up Cole Caufield. Little patience, and Cole makes it 2-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 8:51 PM
[image or embed]
- Nothing to challenge on this one.
- The crowd was cheering the Habs for a great period, but the play was blown dead with 1.2 seconds to play. They didn’t bother with an encore when the clock hit zero.
- You know the Panthers aren’t going to look that bad in the second period, so the Habs will need be be prepared.
Second intermission
- The Sportsnet panel is always a little sheepish when they have to talk about Montreal playing well. They gush about the Leafs when a fourth-liner has two goals in a month. They whisper about the Habs top line being one of the best in the NHL since the 4 Nations. Might as well get used to it guys because they’ll be a talking point for the next decade.
- But HNiC does have a “carrying the torch” ad that features Nick Suzuki, so….
Second period
- Montreal started the period well, but Sam Bennett runs a pick on Mike Matheson as he’s following Mackie Samoskevich around the net, and that gives Samoskevich all kinds of room to get a shot off and make it 2-1. A great play in the NBA, but an illegal one in the NHL. Not the first time tonight the Panthers have gotten away with interference.
Interference clear as day by Bennett on Matheson, no call even though it directly led to a goal for Florida.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 9:23 PM
[image or embed]
- Now the Canadiens are mostly happy just to get the puck out over the blue line. The goal has shifted momentum.
- Halfway through the game, shots are 1-8 Montreal.
- Seth Jones shoots the puck off the crossbar.
- Hutson gets the puck in the slot and has an open look from mid-range, but tries to pull it around Dmitry Kulikov for a point-blank backhand chance. The Panthers defencemen sprawls and throws Hutson off just enough for the puck to be knocked away.
- The only defenceman I worry about a turnover from when he has possession David Savard. He’s not confident moving the puck unless it’s to a player in 20-foot circle of clear space.
- After 17 minutes of a tight-checking second period, the Canadiens draw another penalty. Patrik Laine’s work to maintain possession led to a hook.
- Bobrovsky checked behind him after another Laine bomb. The puck was in the air when anyone could get it, but no Hab could bunt it in.
- I am shocked that the ref’s first call of a pick play is going against Montreal. Nico Sturm fell over the side of Emil Heineman as he stood at blue line, and the ref was fooled, as NHL referees are way too often.
- What Heineman should have done was intentionally intercept Sturm head-on. That’s how you avoid an interference penalty in this game.
Third period
- An important 1:37 of penalty-kill time to start the final frame.
- They free Heineman with the one-goal lead intact.
- A nice shift from the Newhook line takes a minute off the clock with the puck in Florida’s end. Roy did well to keep playing the puck deep into the zone.
- Some karmic justice for the Canadiens. the ref gets in Sam Bennett’s way in the offensive zone, and that allows Montreal to move the puck up to the Panthers’ end. It never came back to Montreal’s zone before Christian Dvorak tipped a hard slapshot from David Savard past Bobrovsky to make it 3-1.
Poetic justice that they missed a trip here, and David Savard's shot gets tipped by Dvorak to make it 3-1 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 10:26 PM
[image or embed]
- That’s Dvorak’s 100th career goal. That’s not secondary scoring, that quaternary scoring.
- The fans are doing the wave, because apparently they’ve never seen the Canadiens try to defend a two-goal third-period lead.
- Maybe it’s better than filling the building with nervous energy, though.
- Also if Dvorak scores, you have to win the game.
- Anderson turns and throws the puck blindly back to the point after gaining the zone entry, missing his two linemates. Now is not the time for that type of play, Josh.
- Evans walks in alone on Bobrovsky and goes to his backhand, but the goalie is all over the move. That would have sealed this game.
- Dvorak is off to the box with 3:23 to play after missing a stick lift in Florida’s end.
- Montembeault makes a huge glove save as the coverage breaks down completely and Verhaeghe walks right down to the top off the crease.
- Montembeault makes another glove save, an easier one off the stick of Aleksander Barkov this time. Eleven more seconds of PK time to go.
- Dvorak misses the empty net, but there are only 23 seconds to go.
- The Canadiens beat the Panthers 3-1, and Suzuki had zero points.
- Montreal is 7-1-2 since the 4 Nations. They move into ninth in the Eastern Conference, one point back of the New York Rangers, with a game in hand.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) My only wish is for interference to not be a judgment call in favour of the contenders
2) A nice little bit of bonus offence
1) If you’re going to do one thing well as a hockey player, make it shooting the puck
