Montreal Canadiens Game Day: Keep the Florida Panthers down

The Montreal Canadiens are back at it with a game against the Florida Panthers who are coming off a beatdown at the hands of John Tavares.

There’s always a risk of the ‘double-edged sword’ concept coming into effect when facing a team on the second half of a back-to-back. You sometimes go into the game with a chip on your shoulder thinking it’s already won considering they were playing while you were resting. In particular for the Florida Panthers, not only were they playing, but they were lit up for four seven goals, four of which came from John Tavares. But the Montreal Canadiens can’t afford to fall into that way of thinking as the Panthers could walk into the Bell Centre angry and in need of a response.

The Habs had a defining week winning three of four games to get back into a wild-card spot. The Carolina game was disappointing as if it weren’t for how well Carey Price played; the team may not have picked up a point. However, they did pick a point, and in total, they added another seven to their playoff efforts.

There shouldn’t be any reason for silence tonight though. Montreal and Florida developed a pretty fiery rivalry dating back to the preseason after the incident between Max Domi and Aaron Ekblad. The downside of this is it could work in Florida’s favour to play even better consider how poorly they put things together against the Leafs despite coming within two of tying things up.

Tonight will mark the end of the season series between the two with the Montreal Canadiens winning the first two while the Florida Panthers got the last one winning 6-3.

Domi was a force that night scoring twice while Aleksander Barkov got a hat-trick. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen as the Habs need this win and Columbus facing off against the New York Islanders at the same time is a good motivator to produce.

Montreal Canadiens

Forward Lines

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw
Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia
Paul Byron – Nate Thompson – Jordan Weal

Defence Pairs

Victor Mete – Shea Weber
Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry
Jordie Benn – Christian Folin

Goaltenders

Carey Price
Antti Niemi

What’s going to be interesting is who starts for the Panthers. Sam Montembeault got the nod initially last night but was quickly pulled after allowing two goals (quickest pulling of the season). Roberto Luongo played the remaining 53 minutes allowing another five.

Starting the youngster makes the most sense given he’ll be more rested. Additionally, it’ll be an opportunity to play for his hometown team as the 22-year-old hails from Becancour, Quebec.

Although the Panthers haven’t had much team success, some of their starts are in the top halves of league leaders. Barkov and Huberdeau have both hit the 80-point mark while newcomer Mike Hoffman has 34 goals on the season.

Florida has the skill to have success but what they lack is the defence, and that’s something the Montreal Canadiens can quickly expose.

Florida Panthers

Forward Lines

Jonathan Huberdeau – Aleksander Barkov – Evgenii Dadonov
Mike Hoffman – Vincent Trochek – Jayce Hawryluk
Frank Vatrano – Riley Sheahan – Troy Brouwer
Jamie McGinn – Henrik Borgstrom – Denis Malgin

Defence Pairs

Michael Matheson – Aaron Ekblad
Keith Yandle –Mackenzie Weegar
Mark Pysyk – Josh Brown

Goaltenders

Sam Montembeault
Roberto Luongo

It’ll be a firey yet manageable night for the Montreal Canadiens. Or at least, it should be. The Panthers are angry and as good as Price is, they can’t afford to let him carry them again similar to Sunday.

What Does the Scoreboard Say?

Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals

• A match against the Stanley Cup Champions. Hopefully, the Capitals can do their part and keep Carolina right where they are.

New York Islanders at Columbus Blue Jackets

• Hey Islanders…I know the Habs shut you out last week, but it would be really great if you could help us out here and you know, not do what Vancouver did.