The Canadiens struck early and often, silencing the Panthers' comeback hopes in a frustrating 5-2 defeat.
It’s been a rough start to the Florida Panthers’ season-long road trip.
After falling 4-1 on Tuesday in Toronto, the Panthers again fell behind and couldn’t come back Thursday night in Montreal, losing to the Canadiens 6-2.
It didn’t take long for Montreal to get on the scoreboard and get their fans buzzing.
Directly off a faceoff in Florida’s end, Oliver Kapanen won the puck back to Mike Matheson, and he set up Noah Dobson for a booming one-timer that went bar-down on Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead just 2:59 into the game.
Later in the period, Kapanen scored one of his own to double Montreal’s lead heading into the intermission.
A loose puck in the corner was kicked to the slot by Juraj Slafkovský, and Kapanen backhanded a fluttering shot over Bobrovsky’s blocker to make it 2-0 for the home side.
Florida finally got themselves on the board during the opening minutes of the second period thanks to a bad misplay by Montreal’s goaltender.
After A.J. Greer dumped the puck into the Habs’ zone and behind their net, Samuel Montembeault came out make a play behind the net.
He was quickly pressured by Carter Verhaeghe and sent a blind backhand toward the corner, where a defenseman was waiting, but the pass went above the goal line where Sam Bennett was waiting to one-time the puck into an empty net.
Alex Texier made it 3-1 Montreal with 6:19 to go in the period, getting his stick on a backdoor deflection after a great feed by Alex Carrier.
With 12:34 to go in the third period, Texier picked up another goal to extend the Habs lead to 4-1.
Perhaps taking a cue from Texier, Bennett picked up his second goal of the game about four minutes later. He slammed home an Evan Rodrigues rebound with 8:37 to go, breathing a little life into the Cats.
An empty-net goal by Slafkovský with 2:01 to go followed by a hat-trick tally by Texier in the final minute sealed the deal for the Canadiens and sent Florida to their fourth loss in five games.
On to Ottawa.
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Photo caption: Jan 8, 2026; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Samuel Montembeault (35) makes a save against Florida Panthers left wing A.J. Greer (10) during the second period at Bell Centre. (David Kirouac-Imagn Images)