The Florida Panthers were mere seconds away from finally beating the Montreal Canadiens, but found a way to blow it, getting beat 3-2 in overtime at Bell Centre in a disturbing start to a four-game road trip.
With time running out in regulation, Seth Jones poked the puck away from Lane Hutson near the blue line, but the rookie sensation regathered and sent a weak shot towards the goal. Instead of letting Vitek Vanecek handle it, Sam Reinhart went to his knees for the block and the puck bounced off his body right to Nick Suzuki, who was unmarked at the opposite side of the net, and he easily deposited the puck into the net with nine seconds left on the clock.
After Suzuki won the faceoff to open overtime, the Canadiens maintained possession throughout. Montreal’s first line center eventually ended up with the puck on his blade and put a wraparound shot in off Vanecek’s skate as the goaltender was trying desperately to seal off the far post. The winning goal came at the 29-second mark with the assists going to Cole Caufield and Hutson, his third helper of the night.
Hutson earned his first assist on the game-opening goal when he passed to partner Kaiden Guhle and his shot from the left point was deflected in by Josh Anderson, who was too much to handle for Uvis Balinskis, 4:43 into the first period. He became the first rookie defenseman to reach 60 points since Nicklas Lidstrom in 1991-92.
Florida evened the score 5:54 later when Anton Lundell won an offensive zone draw back to Niko Mikkola, whose shot from the near the left boards was deflected in by Jake Evans.
The Panthers took their first lead against the Canadiens this season with 1:13 left in the second period. With former draft pick Emil Heineman off for hooking, Sam Bennett lost an offensive zone faceoff to Evans, but Mackie Samoskevich retrieved the puck from the corner. After trading passes with Jones, Samoskevich fired a shot from the top of the left circle that caught a piece of Guhle before beating Samuel Montembeault.
Florida did a great job of defending in the third, holding the host Habs to just three shots on goal before Juraj Slafkovský sent Hutson away on Montreal’s final rush of regulation. Just a heartbreaking way to end a night that should’ve resulted in the Panthers tying Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division with 94 points. Instead, the Cats themselves a point behind the Bolts and two back of Toronto with eight games remaining for all three teams. The Panthers and Maple Leafs will meet tonight at Scotiabank Arena.
Nicotine & Gravy
- First Star Nick Suzuki, who had three in Sunday’s game, established a new career-high in points (78) with his late game-tying goal. He added another in short order to give the Habs the season-series sweep of the defending chumps… I mean champs.
- By racking up an astounding six helpers in three days against the Panthers, Lane Hutson broke the franchise record for assists by a rookie defenseman set by Chris Chelios, who had 55 in 1984-85. Hutson now has 57 assists and 62 points on the season. Can you say Calder?
- Tough night for Sam Reinhart. In addition to inadvertently knocking the puck over to Suzuki to deprive his team of a win, he had two quality chances that Sam Montembeault just got a piece of, and was part of the trio on the ice for the overtime goal.
- Before giving up consecutive shots to end the game, Vitek Vanecek looked like he was en route to his second victory with Florida. Instead, he took his third-straight loss, finishing with 18 saves on 21 shots.
- Nico Sturm left the game early in the first period after colliding with A.J. Greer at center ice. Sturm did not return. Greer had a goal waved off in the second period. Expect to see Tomas Nosek tonight against Toronto.
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