First period
- Josh Anderson goes down and crashes into the boards on the opening shift. We’ll have to see a replay to know why no call was made.
- It appears he did fall on his own, so that was the correct decision from the referee.
- A dangerous shift by the Panthers is cut short by a fight between Michael Pezzetta and Will Lockwood. Pezzetta goes immediately to the dressing room, presumably bloodied after getting pulled to the ice at the end
- The top line collects the puck and rushes up the ice. Nick Suzuki gets the puck to the slot, passes up a shot for a pass to Mike Matheson farther out, who passes up a shot for a pass to Cole Caufield’s skate that doesn’t result in a shot.
- Brendan Gallagher finds Joel Armia with a step on his man in the offensive zone, Once again no shot comes of it.
- The Canadiens are playing well, getting some good zone time, but they need to test Anthony Stolarz more.
- This time Anderson does draw a call, as he takes a stick in the face. The Canadiens go to the power play,
- The power play fails to generate much of anything.
- Mike Matheson has the puck poked away from him, but David Savard shows some strong skating to make up some ground and prevent it from becoming a breakaway.
- Gallagher finds Armia again on a two-on-one. This time the Finn’s deflection goes just wide of the net.
- Late in the period, Ryan Lomberg takes Justin Barron down on a path into the post. Fortunately for Barron, he gets up right away. Juraj Slafkovský was first on the scene in defence of his teammate.
- A fairly well-played period by Montreal, limiting the Panthers to just four shots. There were some dangerous chances for Florida low in the slot that didn’t result in shots, but overall a strong effort.
Second period
- Nick Suzuki dumps the puck in after a long shift and decides to go around the net to apply a bit of pressure. He tries to slow the Panthers defenceman down with a brief hold, and gets caught.
- After what was already a strong start for Florida, they now get a power play.
- That;s how the Panthers get on the board, with a mid-air bunt from Eetu Luostarinen.
- The Canadiens get a power-play chance as Matheson is held along the boards in the offensive zone. An opportunity to get the goal right back.
- After a battle along the boards, Suzuki has three-quarters of the zone to himself, walks into the slot, but hits the crossbar.
- After the whistle, Suzuki can’t find a cross-seam, so sends it to Caufield at the post. Caufield takes the puck on his backhand, and with all the Panthers expecting a weak pass to the slot, Caufield instead lifts it to the top corner.
- There will be no chance to build momentum off that goal, because the Habs are called for too many men on the ice.
- Florida gets another goal as the Panthers pick on the Canadiens’ diamond formation that leaves just one player to defend the top of the crease. David Savard couldn’t contain three players.
- But apparently Florida couldn’t hold the line, so the goal comes off the board. That’s a break.
- They play “That Don’t Impress Me Much” by Shania Twain, but I heard a loud cheer at the decision from all the Habs fans at FLA Live Arena.
- Meanwhile, in Detroit, the Pistons have beaten the Toronto Raptors, ending a 28-game losing streak.
- The top line and the Guhle-Barron tries about six times to get the puck out of their zone. Eventually Allen puts them out of the misery by freezing the puck so they can all change.
- Jesse Ylönen tries to stickhandle his way out of his zone and is stripped from behind. Barron does a great job to tie up a stick and prevent that from becoming a goal.
- Just three shots for Montreal in that period versus 11 from the Panthers. It’s a bit of a miracle that the game is tied, but the Panthers also aren’t doing much with their zone time.
Third period
- The Canadiens can put in a great effort for one period and come away with a win today. Let’s see how the third period begins.
- The third open the same way as the first, with a Josh Anderson rush. He doesn’t have as much success on this breakaway as he had versus the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
- After a good long shift by Montreal, Armia gets a roughing penalty for knocking off Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s helmet. An instant shift in the flow of the game.
- Once more an attack along the goal line with no one to defend it results in a goal for Florida. Three goals scored against Montreal’s penalty, and two that stand.
- Despite a strong push from Montreal in the latter half of the period, a point shot from Ekman-Larrson is deflected by Sam Bennett, and the Panthers have a 3-1 lead.
- Stolarz goes for a goal with Allen on the bench. He doesn’t get enough on the shot.
- Carter Verhaeghe does hit the net, and that will be a 4-1 final.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) There are some good things through it all
2) Let the big boys do their thing
1) They shouldn’t have told the doctor they wanted Caufield on his off-wing
