Canadiens at Panthers
The Florida Panthers look to continue their surge toward a playoff position when they begin a five-game homestand against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. The Panthers swept through a six-game homestand before rallying to get a point in a 5-4 overtime setback at Tampa Bay on Tuesday and sits two points behind Columbus for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with three contests in hand.
“You’ve got to be optimistic and, not satisfied, but somewhat happy about that one,” Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad told reporters after the Panthers came from two goals back in the third period to tie. “. … We showed extreme heart and courage playing the way we did in the third.” Florida is 13-3-1 in its last 17 outings and are 19-9-3 on home ice as they continue a run of 12 straight contests in the Sunshine State against the Canadiens, who saw their six-game point streak (3-0-3) come to an end with a 6-4 setback at New Jersey on Tuesday. Montreal fell behind 4-0 after the first period and battled back, but fell 12 points behind in the race for a wild-card spot. “We’re going to learn from this experience and going to be better,” Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw told reporters of the lost season. “We’re going to close out the year working hard, competing, doing what we can to win.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, TSN2, RDS (Montreal), FS Florida
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (25-30-11): Right wing Brendan Gallagher has scored in three consecutive games and leads the team with 24 goals along with 41 points - two better than Alex Galchenyuk (15 goals). Jonathan Drouin registered four of his 33 points in the last six contests and is a plus-5 in that span while fellow forward Paul Byron owns a pair of goals in the past four games to push his total to 16 - the second-most in his career. Goalie Antti Niemi, who is 4-2-3 with a .931 save percentage since coming to Montreal, is questionable with a lower-body injury.
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (32-25-7): Power forward Nick Bjugstad recorded his first career hat trick Tuesday and owns seven points with a plus-8 rating in his past four contests. “(Bjugstad) was a monster,” Florida coach Bob Boughner told reporters. “He was taking pucks to the net and dragging people on his back. Since I’ve been here (first season), that’s the best game I’ve seen Nick play. We need a performance like that.” All-Star center Aleksander Barkov boasts a seven-game point streak in which he registered five goals and seven assists, and leads the team with 66 points.
OVERTIME
1. Florida RW Evgenii Dadonov has strung together four straight two-point games, collecting two goals and six assists.
2. Montreal F Jacob de la Rose registered two goals in Tuesday’s loss to give him three on the season.
3.The Panthers snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with a 2-0 win Dec. 30 with 38 saves from G James Reimer.