The Florida Panthers ended a mostly glorious calendar year with a maddening 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Amerant Bank Arena.
A duel between goaltenders Daniil Tarasov and former Panther Samuel Montembeault kept the game scoreless until pregame honoree Brad Marchand broke the seal midway through the third period.
After Mackie Samoskevich forced a tripping call on Juraj Slafkovský, Florida’s power play clicked at the 10:18 mark to finally open the scoring when Marchand took a drop pass from Sam Bennett and rushed up the ice, curling around the net and back into the high slot before beating a screened Montembeault. Seth Jones was credited with the secondary assist on Marchand’s 23rd of the season.
Following an Anton Lundell faceoff win, Eetu Luostarinen passed to Sam Reinhart and his seeing-eye shot from an acute angle near the right boards flew over Montembeault’s left shoulder to give the Cats a two-goal cushion with 4:59 left in the frame.
A ridiculous individual effort by Cole Caufield (and an uncalled interference on Lane Hutson, who set an NBA-worthy pick on Aaron Ekblad) got the Canadiens back within one a mere 32 seconds later. Hutson and defense partner Noah Dobson drew the assists on Caufield’s electrifying goal.
Disaster would strike with time running out and Montembeault off for an extra attacker. After Nick Suzuki dumped the puck into the Panthers zone, Tarasov stopped it behind his net. Confusion ensued with Ekblad and Tarasov getting their wires crossed, allowing the combination of Caufield and Ivan Demidov to win possession. Demidov fed out to Suzuki and he cracked the puck into the net from the top of the right circle with 1:22 remaining in regulation.
Marchand took a roughing penalty in overtime and after receiving the puck from Dobson, Hutson spotted an open Suzuki and sent him a perfect pass back against the grain, giving the captain his second of the night and the Habs the bonus point 3:24 into the extra session.
Reinhart had a quality chance to win it at the start of overtime, but Montembeault came up with a big pad save on Florida’s sniper.
With a two-goal lead lead and Tarasov minutes away from his first shutout as a Panther, the wheels fell off and Montreal’s speedy stars stole a point from the two-time defending champs. That’s six straight losses to the Canadiens and three straight game-winning goals for Suzuki during the streak. Yes, Florida gained a point and maintained wild card two, but the choked up hairball means they’ll lose that spot if Buffalo or the New York Rangers win tonight. Coffee is for closers only, so no coffee for the Cats on this chilly morning. A-B-C, always be closing (Blake – Premiere Properties). That said, they did pick up three points on a rather difficult back-to-back and the Winter Classic is up next.
The Five Hole
- On the night he was honored for reaching 1,000 points, Brad Marchand extended his point streak to nine games with his team-leading 23rd goal. Marchand is tied for fifth-place in the NHL in that category with Kirill Kaprizov and Jason Robertson.
- Sam Reinhart stayed right behind Marchand by scoring his 22nd of the campaign. Reinhart has amassed 11 points during his current six-game point streak.
- Daniil Tarasov finished the tilt with 26 saves, including eight of the high-danger variety. Nothing he could do on the game-winner, but a stop on one of the two other goals would’ve been nice.
- In addition to his assist, Seth Jones logged a team-high 25:03 of ice time and was credited with four shots on goal and one hit.
- Carter Verhaeghe has gone cold again. Verhaeghe is on a five-game pointless streak and has just eight shots during that span.
Stat Cards
