Florida Panthers fall again to the Montreal Canadiens

In a Sunday game rematch, the Panthers and Canadiens squared off at the Bell Center in Montreal on Tuesday night. It was another physical matchup, but no fights or misconduct penalties were issued. 

Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola was booed heavily every time he touched the puck. A clear result of his actions in the closing seconds of the previous game. Mikkola sent a shot toward the Montreal goal as time wound down. Aside from breaking one of hockey’s unwritten rules, the NHL fined him $5,000 for the shot.

Mikkola quickly gave the home crowd more reason to boo him, when he scored the first Panther goal in the first period to tie the game. Mackie Samoskevich gave Florida the lead in the second period, and they held the 2-1 advantage through most of regulation.

Up until the closing minute, the Panthers dominated the third period. They outshot the Canadiens 9-3 in the third period and controlled puck possession. Late in regulation, Nate Schmidt made a huge block on a two-on-one Habs breakaway. At that point, it seemed Florida had the game well in hand.

Canadiens Captain Nick Suzuki had other ideas.

As time wound, Suzuki tapped in an easy goal to tie the game with just nine seconds left in regulation. Rookie Lane Hutson shot the puck from the Florida blue line toward the net. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the puck was deflected off Sam Reinhart, and Vitek Vanecek had no chance to make the save. 

Suzuki followed up his late regulation heroics with a wraparound goal less than 30 seconds into the overtime period. The win gives Montreal a perfect record against the Panthers this season, with the game’s overtime point being the lone point Florida earned against the Habs.

With this trend, it might be best to hope that the Panthers don’t match up with the Canadiens if Montreal makes the playoffs.

The silver lining is the Panthers managed to get a point. You could also argue that if Sergei Bobrovsky was in net for the Panthers then the game may have had a different result. Vanaecek was late covering the post on Suzuki’s wraparound overtime winner, which Bobrovsky is elite at.

The Panthers have a quick turnaround. Bob will be back in net tonight when the Panthers face the Maple Leafs in Toronto. The outcome of tonight's game will have serious implications for the race for the Atlantic Division title and playoff seeding.