Montreal Canadiens fans must be thinking, if only the Habs played the Florida Panthers every game. Now 3-0 this season against the Stanley Cup champions following a 4-2 road victory on Sunday (and having won four straight overall against them), the Habs snapped a five-game losing streak to retake the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Game Recap
Both Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson led the way offensively for the Canadiens. Each had three points, with Suuzki scoring the game-winning goal, off a Hutson pass, just over two minutes into the third period to break a 2-2 tie.
On the play, Suzuki had first found Juraj Slafkovsky in the slot, but the Slovak couldn’t find the handle. The puck travelled all the way to the boards, where Hutson recovered and quickly found Suzuki at the side of the net for the one-time goal that beat Panthers starter Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 19 saves on 21 shots in the game.
Slafkovsky, who was celebrating his 21st birthday, also netted an assist on the play, but more notably had scored to make it 2-1 midway through the second, deflecting the puck in off Panthers defenseman Seth Jones on the power play. Jones redeemed himself five minutes later when he stepped into an Aleksander Barkov pass with a one-time shot from the point that beat goal Sam Montembeault. Montembeault made 24 saves on 26 shots.
Barkov also tallied an assist earlier in the game, when Sam Reinhart tied the score 1-1 in the first. The Panthers captain recovered a puck that defenseman Alexandre Carrier had mishandled behind the net and quickly found Reinhart. Canadiens forward Patrik Laine had opened the scoring just a minute and change earlier from his usual spot on the power play in the faceoff circle, Hutson and Suzuki getting the assists (similar to on Slafkovsky’s goal). Brendan Gallagher closed the scoring with an empty-net goal late in the third period.
The win brings a positive, yet merciful end to the Canadiens’ four-game road trip, which had consisted of a blowout defeat to the St. Louis Blues as well as two additional regulation losses to the struggling Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes, against whom head coach Martin St. Louis curiously opted to play seven defensemen and 11 forwards in Kaiden Guhle’s return to action. St. Louis iced more of traditional lineup on Sunday, going with 12 forwards and six defensemen, sitting Arber Xhekaj, while up front Michael Pezzetta drew in (albeit with a game-low 5:43 in ice time).
Related: Projected Lineups for the Canadiens vs Panthers – 3/30/25
The now-34-20-9 Canadiens leapfrogged the idle New York Rangers to retake the second wild-card spots. Both have 77 points, but the Habs get the edge in the standings by virtue of having played one less game. Habs fans get their hypothetical wish when they make up the one-game difference on Tuesday, April 1, when they face the 44-26-3 Panthers again in the back half of a home-and-home series (no joke).
