First period
- There’s a loud “Go Habs Go!” chant to begin the game, so apparently a few more Canadians travelled to Florida than have to Minnesota for the World Juniors.
- Samuel Montembeault makes a couple of saves early. It looks like he’s following the puck so far and making a point to watch it right into his body to control the rebound. Back to basics it seems, which is a good way to start.
- Zachary Bolduc goes in hard on the forecheck and draws a high-sticking call. He’s had a couple of good shifts to start this game on the third line.
- The top unit makes a lot of passes without getting anything on net. The second unit comes out and Alexandre Texier fires a quick shot that needs a toe save from Daniil Tarasov to keep the Habs off the board.
- Texier is doing well on the top line so far, battling the boards and winning pucks that Bolduc wasn’t able to get. That trio just had about four good scoring chances, with some help from a defensive pairing of Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson.
- The Panthers have had enough of chasing the cycle and have just starting tripping up anyone who gets near the puck on the boards. The things contenders get away with for some reason.
- Bolduc is doing better on the boards as a member of Phillip Danault’s line. He might still be on the first one if he played like that, but right now Montreal has three lines pressuring the Panthers.
- It’s supposed to be a penalty now when someone rips an opponent’s helmet off. It appears a Brendan Gallagher clause was added to that rule as well.
- Considering the Panthers were breaking almost every rule in the book trying to stop Montreal from creating in the offensive zone, I’m giving the edge to the Canadiens in that period even if shots were 9-7 Florida. Montembeault had a fairly easy time in the first period of his return, while Tarasov had to make some big saves.
Second period
- Alexandre Carrier is very active in the attack tonight, going deep into the offensive zone several times already to help set things up.
- Ivan Demidov teases the puck out of a scrum just inside the Panthers’ blue line to slip in behind the defence. Aaron Ekblad cross-checks him in the thigh to knock him down, and will watch the next two minutes from behind the glass.
- Montembeault has to make a save on a two-on-one to start things off.
- Demidov and Juraj Slafkovský passed the puck about three too many times, but it fooled the Panthers defenders enough for the puck to fall to Cole Caufield, who blasted it off the post while a lot of net to look at.
- There’s a lot of play in the neutral zone this period. Montreal isn’t quite threatening the Panthers enough to tire them out for the third.
- Hutson walks right in to the net and aims for Texier’s blade at the opposite side of the crease, but Seth Jones just gets in stick in at the last moment to disrupt what would have been a tap-in.
- The Panthers put together their best shift of the game, and it leads to Hutson being called for a penalty trying to box out the front of the net. Anton Lundell clearly doesn’t understand physics because he fell back into Hutson when he felt the cross-check, but the ref was looking for something anyway.
- Danault fights through some interference to get the puck down the ice and sets up a chance for Josh Anderson.
- Caufield backchecks perfectly, gains body position on Mackie Samoskevich, and forces him off the puck. At the same time, however, Nick Suzuki got his stick caught in Samoskevich’s glove, and he will go off for hooking.
- A brief period of elevated play for the Panthers saw them get some dangerous shots from a power play, but I think the Canadiens won that period as well. Now it’s a battle of a young Habs team versus a more tired Florida club in a 20-minute game.
Third period
- Adam Engström pinches his man along the boards after he played the puck ahead. We do have to call this game by the book after all.
- Montreal has been the better team this game, and the Panthers are on their third power play to the Canadiens’ two.
- Carrier does good work in the corner to win the puck and clear it out. This is his best game of the season.
- The Habs come out of the kill with the top line on the attack, and Gustav Forsling gets called for tripping.
- Hutson loses the puck to Brad Marchand for what was looking like a breakaway chance, but Hutson somehow plucked the puck off Marchand’s stick, spun on a dime, and relaunched the attack with one defender now out at centre ice.
- The top unit passes itself right out of a shot, and nothing dangerous comes from the power play at all. If you could just trade in 10 passes for a goal the Habs would be 39-0-0 this year.
- Slafkovský was stripped of the puck at centre ice and felt the need to immediately win it back even though there was plenty of support behind him. This is a big moment of the game just ahead of the midpoint of the third.
- And the Panthers score. I expect 10 minutes of beast mode from Slafkovský now. Well, at least five anyway.
- First we have to have the customary stretch of pure panic from the Habs on the shift or two after allowing a goal.
- Then the 2-0 goal goes over Montembeault’s shoulder and under the crossbar.
- There’s no time to panic now. Caufield hits the ice and single-handedly gets Montreal back in the game with a couple of dekes in the slot and a snipe.
Cole Caufield with a preposterous goal to get the Habs a chance here
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 10:37 PM
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- You could argue the game would be tied without that rough second goal, but then you wouldn’t have seen that display from Caufield without it, so….
- The top line tries to tie things up on the next shift, and it’s Texier who gets the shot that is swallowed up by Tarasov.
- The comeback kids are back! Demidov sets up Suzuki from behind the net, and Suzuki fires it in to tie the game. Great fight from going down two.
THEY DID IT AGAIN!! Nick Suzuki ties the game with the #Habs net empty
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 10:44 PM
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- And that’s a point after trailing by multiple goals in the third period the last couple of games. Another vital result in Florida.
Overtime
- Now let’s aim about a half inch more toward the centre of the net in this three-on-three shall we?
- Marchand charges through Matheson as he’s holding the puck along the boards, crossing his arms and forcing them into Matheson’s head. Matheson stays down for a few seconds, but skates off on his own. Montreal gets a power play — it should have been a five — and now is the time to grab the winner.
- The power-play unit is Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovský, and Demidov.
- Too. Many. Passes.
- Suzuki finally takes a shot, and rings it off the post.
- But the captain gets his redemption. The puck comes right to his stick on a one-time slap-pass from Hutson across the grain, and he has time to find it and send in the winner.
What a PASS from Lane Hutson to Nick Suzuki, and the #Habs complete the comeback to win in OT.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 10:55 PM
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- Three points out of four in Florida, and the Habs extend their lead over the Panthers to three points. You couldn’t have expected anything more.
- And an important win from Montembeault, who was mostly good save for the bad-angle goal.
- Now on to the toughest game of the three versus Eastern Conference opponents on this trip with the Habs visit Carolina on Thursday.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) If it means more of what we saw in the final five minutes, it’s hard to argue against the logic
2) Lots of interesting info (check the original for the links)
1) Might as well get the bulk pack
