Game 35: Montreal Canadiens @ Florida Panthers
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: Sportsnet East, CityTV (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Panthers region: Bally Sports Florida
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet
There isn’t a lot that separates the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers on the offensive side of things. Montreal ranks 27th in goals per game, and Florida is just one spot higher, scoring 2.92 goals per contest. The power-play issues Montreal has dealt with are shared by their rival in Sunrise, as the two clubs are separated by less than one percentage point. The success of the two teams is quite different, however, as Montreal sits 23rd in the overall NHL standings and Florida slots in at ninth, with 35 and 44 points on the season, respectively.
The difference is on defence, a category in which the Panthers rank near the top of the league while the Canadiens are found near the bottom. Florida can make its three goals stand up for wins, sporting an .863 points percentage in the 22 games they’ve hit that total; the Canadiens have managed three goals 23 times this season, but have just a .739 points percentage when doing so. The result is six points left on the table by Florida in that situation, but 12 by Montreal, accounting for much of the difference between the two clubs at this stage of the season.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Panthers |
|---|---|---|
| 15-14-5 | Record | 21-12-2 |
| 46.3% (28th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 55.7% (4th) |
| 2.79 (27th) | Goals per game | 2.94 (26th) |
| 3.35 (23rd) | Goals against per game | 2.60 (4th) |
| 17.9% (21st) | PP% | 18.8% (20th) |
| 72.9% (29th) | PK% | 83.6% (7th) |
| 0-1-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-0-0 |
Playing Montreal seems to unlock all of Florida’s offensive potential. The Habs don’t face a team that scores three goals per game, but one that has scored at least five in each of the previous five meetings. That includes the match one month ago at the Bell Centre when five different players got on the scoreboard in a game that got away from Montreal in the third period.
The Canadiens can probably expect one goal from the defence tonight, another from the top which is enjoying a lot of success lately, and perhaps one from Josh Anderson who has been on a recent tear. But, as it has been on a quarter of occasions this season, that probably won’t be enough to snap the five-game losing streak in this matchup.
One issue is that’s it’s hard to win when one line isn’t firing, and that is the case for the trio of Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak, and Brendan Gallagher. It’s a line that has the primary goal of limiting opponents’ offence, but with Gallagher currently sitting on a career-worst -15 goal differential things aren’t exactly going to that plan. Three goals from that trio of players helped the Canadiens earn wins over the New York Islanders and Winnipeg Jets before the Christmas break, and one might be the difference in the game tonight.
Perhaps Jake Allen, confirmed as tonight’s starter, will be able to at least hold the Panthers to four goals to give his team a chance. After a rough period for the veteran netminder, he’s put together back-to-back games with a .938 save percentage, finally snapping a personal seven-game losing streak with the win in Winnipeg. The Habs don’t want Thursday’s loss in Carolina to snowball into a stretch of losses with a back-to-back in the state of Florida, so a good game tonight is important for Montreal if the team wishes to come out of this road trip within reach of a playoff spot.
