Florida went 2-0-1 over its three-game, four-night trip through eastern Canada

The Florida Panthers left Fort Lauderdale on Sunday looking to approach their three-game road trip as though each outing was a playoff game.

When they fly back home on Friday, the Panthers should feel pretty good about what they accomplished while north of the border. 

Riding a red-hot penalty kill and a strong third period, Florida took down the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 on Thursday to conclude their three-game-in-four-night roadie with five of a possible six points.

A pair of uncharacteristic first period penalties on Niko Mikkola would test Florida’s PK in the game’s opening minutes, but the unit remained strong, killing both despite allowing a handful of shots.

By the time first 20 minutes expired, the Panthers had been called for three penalties and narrowly escaped with a scoreless tie despite losing 13 of the 17 faceoffs and being credited with seven giveaways.

As the game neared its midway point, Panthers captain Sasha Barkov would get rewarded for what had been an excellent game to that point when he intercepted a long D to D pass by Gustav Lindstrom and headed down the ice on an odd man rush.

Looking like he was preparing to pass across the zone to a streaking Sam Reinhart, Barkov instead sent a laser of a wrist shot over the shoulder of Cayden Primeau to give the Cats a 1-0 lead.

The second period ended with Florida having killed off five power plays, thanks in large part to an excellent effort in goal by Sergei Bobrovsky.

Six of the 17 shots he’d faced to that point had come with Montreal on the power play.

Right off the opening faceoff of the third period, Sam Benentt jumped on a loose puck and sped into the Canadiens zone, snapping a shot past Primeau’s glove to give the Cats a 2-0 lead.

Evan Rodrigues got in on the fun a few minutes later, sending a long wrist shot past Primeau and getting a rousing cheer from his teammates. It was his first goal in Florida's past 11 games. 

A Carter Verharghe power play marker at the 5:49 mark would make it three goals on five third period shots for Florida, and just like that they were up 4-0.

Unfortunately for Bobrovsky, he wouldn’t end up with his second consecutive shutout. 

A long, unscreened wrist shot from Jonathan Kovacevic went off the top of the webbing part of Bobrovsky’s glove – causing it to bend inward instead of the puck going into the webbing as designed – and the puck fluttered into the net.

A late goal – as in 11 seconds to go late – by Oliver Ekman-Larsson would be the cherry on top of a resounding victory and a successful road trip.

Here are some thoughts and observations from Thursday’s contest in Montreal:

Barkov had an excellent all-around game, finishing with a goal and an assist pushing some of the best even strength defensive metrics on the team.

Florida came into the game scorching hot on the penalty kill, 20-for-20 their past five and 12-for-12 on the road trip. They killed off all six Montreal penalties on Thursday.

Mikkola’s two penalties were his first in six weeks. He was called for a pair of minors back on Oct. 16 against New Jersey.

After a horrendous first period taking draws (Florida went 4-for-17), the Cats finished the game only losing 43% of the faceoffs (23-for-54). 

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