Florida Panthers Make History. Not the Good Kind

SUNRISE — When the Florida Panthers got shut out in a loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 12, it was the first time they failed to score a goal this season.

Just a one-off, right?

Then they were blanked the following game against the Calgary Flames.

Two straight games without a goal did not seem like such a big deal, especially after they battled back and beat the Oilers 6-5 in a rematch of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton.

Those two shutout losses to the Canucks and Flames appeared to be an aberration, after all, the Panthers bounced back against the Oilers and ran off four straight wins in which they outscored their vanquished foes 18-9.

Monday night, less than 24 hours after beating the Lightning 4-2 in Tampa, the Panthers were shutout 4-0 not by all-world goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy but by Jonas Johansson.

Yeah, Jonas Johansson.

OK, no big whoop.

No One Covers the Florida Panthers Like FHN. Period.

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Johansson is not an elite goalie, but he played like it on Monday.

Shot happens — especially with an upcoming holiday break on the horizon.

Then came Saturday afternoon in Sunrise.

Jakub Dobas was making his NHL debut, and, aside from a handful of chances, was not challenged a whole lot as he shut down the Panthers in a 4-0 win for the Canadiens.

“All I know is, the guys in front of me did an unbelievable job,” Dobes said. “I think I saw every puck, and that gave me a lot of confidence.’’

Good for him, sure, as he became just the fourth goalie in Montreal’s storied history to shut out an opponent in his first NHL game.

It was the first time, however, that the Panthers were shutout four times in a single month.

After some of the bad hockey the team has played over the years, that is hard to believe.

Yet here we are.

“I don’t think we ever got to the level we need to get to for a chance to win a game,” Paul Maurice said.

“We allowed it to be even for the first part of that game. Then we made some mistakes, big ones, and were chasing the game. They played well, they played hard. We did not play a game we would recognize as our own.”

After a scoreless first, Montreal scored three in the second before getting one final goal in the third.

It was Montreal’s fourth win in five games. The Canadiens, after years of rebuilding, see some light in that tunnel.

Martin St. Louis won a lot of games in Sunrise with the Lightning as a player, but had never won there as coach of the Canadiens.

Saturday’s win was Montreal’s first in Sunrise since 2018 — a run of nine straight victories by the Panthers.

“We understand the caliber of team we were playing,” St. Louis said.

“But this wasn’t just a win, but how we got it. I thought we played a smart, calculated game.”

The Canadiens will move on and play in Tampa later today.

The Panthers have a practice scheduled to try and get back on track.

Florida play the struggling and extremely disappointing New York Rangers in Sunrise on Monday night.

The Panthers should not give the Blueshirts an opportunity to get off the mat.

“I don’t think we are going to dwell on this one, just kind of move on,’’ Sam Bennett said.

“Mistakes are going to be made; it’s about how you help each other and fix them. We are just going to move on from this game.”

ON DECK: GAME No. 38

NEW YORK RANGERS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Monday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise 
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/FtM)
• 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
• Last Season vs. Rangers — Regular Season: Panthers won 2-1; Eastern Conference Finals: Panthers won 4-2. 
• This Season (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Florida: Monday; April 14. At MSG: Panthers 3, Rangers 1 (Oct. 24).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Rangers lead 61-35-8, 6 ties
• Postseason History: Rangers won 4-1 (1997, 1st round); Panthers won 4-2 (2024 ECF)
• Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday vs. Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m.