Florida Panthers Going One Way, Canadiens Another

The Florida Panthers won their seventh straight home game Friday night in Sunrise, their shootout win against the Utah Hockey Club propelling them back atop the Atlantic Division standings.

For a minute, anyway.

The Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Tampa Bay Lightning are all jockeying for the divisional championship — and the home ice through at least two playoff rounds that comes with it.

This afternoon, the Panthers play host to the Montreal Canadiens.

Montreal appears to be ahead of its rebuild schedule, and is right on the cusp of its first postseason berth since 2021 when the Canadiens surprisingly went to the Stanley Cup Final.

Only, the Canadiens are in a fight to the finish for that last wild-card spot.

And, it doesn’t seem like anyone wants to take control of it.

Montreal included.

After beating Ottawa 6-3 on March 18, the Canadiens took over that last playoff spot.

They come into Sunrise this afternoon having lost five straight since that win against the Senators.

Yet despite going 0-3-2 in its past five, the Canadiens went into Saturday tied with Columbus for that final spot.

The New York Rangers finally won Saturday in San Jose, so they come into Sunday holding a two-point lead on the Canadiens and Blue Jackets but have played two more games.

Montreal plays its next two against the Panthers, which, on paper looks tough.

And it is, sure.

But the Canadiens are 2-0 against Florida this season with Paul Maurice saying two of the games he has been displeased with over the past couple of months were the ones against Montreal.

“We feel we have underperformed,’’ Maurice said, “and that’s not to take away from Montreal’s game. They played exceptionally well, but we didn’t like the way we played.’’

Montreal has a lot to play for today — and again Tuesday when it welcomes the Panthers to Bell Centre.

Maurice likes it that way.

“We would prefer to play these kind of games, at this time of the year, for sure,” Maurice said on Saturday. “If you look at our schedule the past six weeks, it is almost exclusively teams competing for the top, or fighting for their lives.

“All of those teams have a natural advantage. The reason why you don’t see playoff hockey for 82 regular season games is that you can’t. There is an energy source these teams have.”

ON DECK: GAME No. 73

MONTREAL CANADIENS at FLORIDA PANTHERS  

• When: Sunday, 1 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla) 
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-275); Florida Puck line (-1.5, -105); Over/Under 5.5 (-120/+100)
• Last Season: Florida won 3-1
• This Season (Canadiens Lead 2-0) — At Montreal: Canadiens 3, Panthers 1 (March 15); Tuesday. At Florida: Canadiens 4, Panthers 0 (Dec. 28); Saturday.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 58-41-11, 6 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m.