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Recat: Sunset In Sunrise

Florida looked out of sync for much of their matchup against the Montreal Canadiens late Sunday afternoon, dropping the contest, 4-1.

The first period would see three Montreal power plays before the Panthers got their first. This included a Canadiens five-on-three for what was supposed to be nearly two full minutes. They wouldn’t need that much time. Tomas Plekanec lit the lamp for the 24th time this year on a wrist shot that fooled Panthers backup netminder Dan Ellis at the 6:36 mark, with assists from Andrei Markov and Alex Galchenyuk. The Habs outshot the Cats 12-to-4 in the period.

The second period would see the Panthers tie the Canadiens on their power play 6:20 into the frame with an Aaron Ekblad blast past Carey Price for his 12th of the season. Jonathan Huberdeau earned his 39th assist and Aleksander Barkov got his 19th.

Florida’s resurgence lasted just 44 seconds. Brendan Gallagher (24) scored an NHL ’94-like goal on a slap shot past Ellis, helpers to P.K. Subban and Plekanec. PA Parenteau (8) and Devante Smith-Pelly (6) added their own markers to put the game essentially out of Florida’s reach. Jeff Petry and Parenteau also earned assists, one for each of Montreal’s third and fourth goals. Despite the score, the Panthers outshot the Habs 12-to-9 through the middle frame.

The third period would see the clearly deflated Panthers unable to get into anything resembling a groove, resulting in another five-on-three power play against. Florida outshot Montreal, 9-to-6 to close out the game.

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