Florida Panthers Look to Rebound against Improved Canadiens in Montreal

The Florida Panthers will continue their Canadian odyssey with a visit to Bell Centre tonight to face the resurgent Montreal Canadiens.

The Panthers are coming off a less-than-impressive performance in Toronto on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens are rolling.

Even though Montreal qualified for the playoffs in only four of the past 10 seasons, the Panthers already had a reminder not to take this team lightly.

Just before the Winter Classic, the Panthers were in control of the Canadiens in Sunrise — holding a 2-0 lead with 5 minutes remaining.

Daniil Tarosov appeared on his way to his first shutout as a Panther.

Those who left early to beat the traffic were spared the carnage which followed: A goal by Cole Caufield with 4:27 left got Montreal right back in it and set the stage for Nick Suzuki to tie it up with Canadiens’ goalie Sam Montembault removed for an extra skater.

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Suzuki put the final nail in the coffin in overtime when he beat Tarasov while Brad Marchand was off for roughing former Panther Mike Matheson.

Marchand was honored earlier in a pre-game ceremony for achieving his 1,000th point and scored the game’s first goal to kick off the third.

After beating Calgary on Wednesday night, The Canadiens have points in nine of their last 10 games and are in second place in the Atlantic Division just a point back of the Lightning for first.

The Panthers have lost three of four since that Montreal game and remain on the outside of the playoffs race.

Martin St. Louis, now in his fourth full season as head coach, has helped taken the Canadiens from also-rans to genuine contenders.

Montreal has a true star in leading scorer and team captain Suzuki.

They have bright young talent in forwards Caufield and Juraj Slavkovsky. The Canadiens have one of the league’s top defensemen in Lane Hutson, who won the Calder Memorial Trophy as last season’s top rookie.

Right winger Ivan Demidov is one of this season’s brightest rookies.

In the offseason, Montreal paid dearly to add quality defender Noah Dobson in a trade with the New York Islanders which cost them two first-round draft picks and young forward Emil Heineman.

Dobson and Matheson have been the top pairing for most of the season.

When things get sticky on the ice, they also have one of the NHL’s premier enforcers in Arber Xhekaj.

Like the Panthers and many other NHL teams this year, the Canadiens also are dealing with significant injuries.

Patrick Laine has been out since mid-October with an abdominal issue and is not expected back until late February.

Last season Laine registered 20 goals — 15 on the power play — in only 52 games with Montreal.

Kirby Dach has been out since mid-November with a foot injury. Jake Evans was injured December 20 and is not expected back for another month.

Top four defenseman Kaiden Guhle is on LTIR following torn adductor surgery and forward Alex Newhook has an ankle injury and isn’t expected back until March.

Injuries and shaky goaltending notwithstanding, the team is in a good position.

The start of season goalie tandem of Montembault and Jakub Dobes has struggled.

Both have a GAA above 3.00 and a save percentage south of .900.

Rookie Jacob Fowler, who grew up in Melbourne and is the first Floridian goalie in NHL history, was promoted from AHL Laval on December 9 and has sparkled in his eight starts.

He beat the Flames 4-1 on Wednesday so its likely he will again not face the Panthers tonight.

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Montembault did a short conditioning stint in the AHL, supposedly recovering from illness, so he didn’t have to clear waivers.

The team is carrying three goaltenders so, something must give.

Seth Jones was added to Florida’s long injury list after suffering a collarbone injury at the Winter Classic.

Brad Marchand did not come out for the third period of the Toronto game but is expected to play tonight.

Paul Maurice was not pleased with his team’s performance Tuesday but was still optimistic about the season in general.

“We have a standard. Some nights we meet it. Some nights we fall a little short,’’ Maurice said after Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Leafs.

“I didn’t like tonight’s game but for the most part, with all that we’ve gone through, I’m really happy with what they’ve been able to do, staying in the fight.”

Fortunately, in the NHL the next game comes quickly and once the puck drops the failures of the last game are forgotten.

The Panthers have done a pretty good job of bouncing back this season going 12-6-1 after a loss.

                                                                         ON DECK: GAME No. 43

                                            FLORIDA PANTHERS at MONTREAL CANADIENS 

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Bell Centre, Montreal
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla) 
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 931 or 932, NHL App
• Last Season: Canadiens won 4-0
• This Season (Canadiens lead 1-0) — At Montreal: Thursday; April 7. At Florida: Canadiens 3, Panthers 2 OT (Dec. 30).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 58-43-11, 6 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday at Ottawa Senators, 7