Canadiens at Panthers
The Florida Panthers look to build off a strong effort last time out despite seeing their losing streak grow to four games (0-2-2) as they host the short-handed Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night. The Panthers fell 2-1 in overtime against the NHL-best Boston Bruins on Thursday and enter the weekend four points out of a playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
“We’ve got to look on the bright side of things, we stemmed the tide as far as playing the right way,” Florida coach Joel Quenneville told reporters Thursday. “We still have some time here and have to get points in every single game going forward. That’s got to be the mindset.” The Panthers, who were five points behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand entering Friday, have split a pair of contests with the Canadiens as each team won on home ice and will visit Montreal on March 26. The Canadiens were without left wing Jonathan Drouin (ankle), right wing Brendan Gallagher (illness) and leading scorer Tomas Tatar (upper body) for a 4-0 loss at Tampa Bay on Thursday as they failed to gain a point for just the second time in seven games (4-2-1). “(The) compete level and the work ethic and all that stuff. I have nothing to complain about from our team,” Montreal coach Claude Julien told reporters as the Canadiens remained seven points back of the final wild card spot in the East. “They tried hard and we just didn’t have enough.”
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Florida, CBC, TVA, Sportsnet, Sportsnet 360
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (31-29-9): Tatar, who had six of his team-best 61 points in his last four games, was flown back to Montreal for more tests for his injury and is questionable to return for Saturday’s contest. Gallagher is day-to-day after posting two goals and three assists in his last three games while Drouin has missed the past four contests as Montreal recalled forward Lukas Vejdemo before Thursday’s game and dressed seven defensemen. Center Max Domi, who is third on the team behind Tatar and Phillip Danault (47) in scoring with 44 points, led the way with five shots on goal Thursday as Montreal finished with a 32-23 advantage.
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (33-26-8): Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar scored the only goal for Florida in Thursday’s setback and Chris Driedger stopped 26 shots in his first game in seven weeks, subbing for No. 1 goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (lower body). Bobrovsky (23-19-6, .900 save percentage) did not practice Friday and remains questionable while Driedger, who missed time with a groin injury, has played well this season with a 5-2-1 record and .932 SP with one shutout. Leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau has not added to his point total (77) in the last four games and captain Alekander Barkov (62) has not made the scoresheet in the same span.
OVERTIME
1. Montreal rookie C Nick Suzuki (13 goals, 40 points) has not made the scoresheet in his last seven contests.
2. Florida RW Brett Connolly had an assist on Weegar’s goal Thursday, snapping a 10-game point drought.
3. Canadiens G Carey Price is 13-7-3 with a .936 save percentage in his career against the Panthers.