About last night: Habs opens 2022 with a 5-2 loss to Panthers

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The Canadiens closed their tour of the South with a 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers in a matinee game on New Year’s Day at the FLA Live Arena.

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Jonathan Huberdeau led the way for his club with three assists. Against his former team, Sam Montembeault made 43 saves.

Earlier in the day, the Habs announced that two more regulars, Alexander Romanov and Jake Evans, were added to the NHL’s COVID protocol list. With no fresh bodies to summon in time, coach Dominique Ducharme shot with 11 forwards and five defenders. The depth of the team was further tested when Cédric Paquette left the game with a neck injury after attempting to overcome a collision with Sam Bennett. Brendan Gallagher left Thursday’s game and did not play today, but Jonathan Drouin returned after missing a game with a non-COVID illness.

The only reinforcement Montreal could get was Cam Hillis, who made his NHL debut with number 88.

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Things looked bleak at first, when Bennett opened scoring 32 seconds after receiving a no-look pass from Anthony Duclair behind the Montreal net.

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But not so fast: just over three minutes later, Drouin tied him up in a deflection from a shot by Sami Niku.

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A minute after Drouin’s goal, Radko Gudas and Michael Pezzetta dropped their gloves, and veteran Panther did most of the damage. Not only did Pezzetta use his fists in the first, he nearly scored a standout reel goal through his legs after taking a good shot from Hillis. The game was tied after one o’clock, and as in Carolina’s game, the Canadiens, with few players, held their own against a powerful opponent early on.

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Montreal took the lead briefly in the second, when playing four on four, Niku won a board battle and gave the puck to Nick Suzuki, who sent a backhand pass to Jesse Ylonen. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Ylonen’s shot, but the rebound went straight to Suzuki, who scored in the open cage to make it 2-1. Niku got his second assist of the night.

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The advantage did not last. In the power play at 15:02, Aleksander Barkov scored a short one-half with the men’s lead reflected by Teuvo Teravainen’s goal on Thursday to even the score.

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The Panthers took a 3-2 lead before the end of the second. Sam Reinhart sent a record from the tables to Frank Vatrano, who quickly redirected the record on Montembeault.

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It only took 15 seconds in the third for the Panthers to increase their lead. Bennett took advantage of a high point shot from MacKenzie Weegar to make it 4-2.

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Mason Marchment fired a strong shot on Montembeault in a two-on-one to extend Florida’s lead to 5-2. Thus ended the game.

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Like the Carolina and Tampa Bay games, the Panthers fired up the jets when necessary to defeat an inferior opponent. Even with a full roster, the Canadiens would have had a hard time coming off this Sun Belt tour with a lot of points, and under the circumstances, coming out with one point and being in all three games was better than expected. It is arguably good for the tank and not detrimental to the morale of the young men, who again showed courage.

The Habs will now have two weeks off with the postponement of four games at the Bell Center. They will return to action on January 12 against the Boston Bruins. That game moved from Montreal to Boston. The Canadiens and Laval Rocket will stop all activities until January 6. Liveblog commenters wondered aloud: Who of the many emergency calls will be on ice the next time we see them?

3. “Montembault kept them in the game for a while, good for him!” -Dale Geldautomat

2. “Given the circumstances, the fact that it was not a blowout should be considered a great victory for the Canadians.” -Ryan Katz

1. “I’ve started to realize why we keep seeing this team, even with all the rookies … think of the Rolling Stones and their song,” No Expectations “…” -Haari Meech