Canadiens Suffer Collapse in the Third Period | RECAP: FLA @ MTL

The Montreal Canadiens survived a slow start in the first period but were buried in the third period by the Florida Panthers.

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 1 vs Florida Panthers 5 | Final

Forwards

15 Alex Newhook - 14 Nick Suzuki - 11 Brendan Gallagher
22 Cole Caufield - 28 Christian Dvorak - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
40 Joel Armia - 91 Sean Monahan - 17 Josh Anderson
70 Tanner Pearson - 71 Jake Evans - 56 Jesse Ylonen

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 27 Gustav Lindstrom
21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron
47 Jayden Struble - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic

Goaltenders

Starter: 30 Cayden Primeau
Alternate: 35 Sam Montembeault 

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Mattias Norlinder, Michael Pezzetta, Jake Allen
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), David Savard (hand), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body), Arber Xhekaj (upper body), Jordan Harris (lower body)

On the Canadiens five-game road trip, the visitors earned win against teams near the bottom of the league, namely Anaheim (28th), San Jose (32nd) and Columbus (29th) but were dominated by Boston (2nd) and Los Angeles (7th).

So how did the game turn out against another top-10 opponent on Thursday night?

Montreal struggled to find their footing in the first period, managing just two 5-on-5 shots on goal. However entering the first intermission, the two teams were scoreless.

In the second period during 4-on-4 play, Aleksander Barkov intercepted a Gustav Lindstrom pass and chipped it past Alex Newhook at the Florida blueline to spring himself. Barkov beat Cayden Primeau with a wrist shot to the glove side for the opening goal.

From the opening faceoff of the third period, the wheels fell off the Canadiens game. Eight seconds into the final frame, Justin Barron turned the puck over to Sam Bennett who rifled a shot past Primeau's glove hand.

Before the first minute was played in the third, Newhook was helped off the ice after falling into the mesh of the Florida goal feet first. Newhook did not return in this game having suffered a lower body injury.

Just over three minutes had passed in the third period when Evan Rodrigues fired a wrist shot that beat Primeau glove side. Two-and-a-half minutes later Carter Verhaeghe scored a power-play goal that beat Primeau - you guessed it - on his glove side.

In all, Cayden Primeau allowed five goals in the game, all of them past his outstretched glove. 

In addition to a bad outing by their goaltender, the Canadiens top-six forwards were effectively shut down by a stifling Panthers defense. Six players on Montreal's top two lines managed just two shots on goal. By contrast, three players on the Canadiens fourth line - Jesse Ylonen, Jake Evans, Tanner Pearson - tallied nine shots on goal with considerably less ice time.

Johnathan Kovacevic scored the only marker for Montreal, his fourth goal of the season.

Perhaps looking to deflect attention away from his goaltender's poor outing and his team's slow start, Canadiens head coach Marty St. Louis claimed that he was proud of his team's effort.

"We were playing a second game in two nights. We arrived late yesterday. Tonight, from the start, we were there, we were engaged and alert. It's a shame to have lost, but I'm proud of the team."

Canadiens (10-11-2)
Shots: 22
Face-off %: 57.4
Power play: 0/6
Penalty minutes: 13
Hits: 14
Blocks: 15

Panthers (14-7-2)
Shots: 29
Face-off %: 42.6
Power play: 1/4
Penalty minutes: 17
Hits: 15
Blocks: 13

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: --
3rd period: Kovacevic (4)
OT: --
SO: --

Panthers Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Barkov (7)
3rd period: Bennett (3), Rodrigues (4), Verhaeghe (10)-PPG, Ekman-Larsson
OT: --
SO: --

Goaltenders
MTL: Primeau (L) 2-3-1
FLA: Bobrovsky (W) 11-6-1

Johnathan Kovacevic - Kovacevic now has four goals in just 23 games. The defenseman was known for his offence with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

Jake Evans - Evans drew an assist on Kovacevic's goal and generated two shots on goal.

Jesse Ylonen - Ylonen had three shots on goal in just 11 minutes of ice time.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxGgCmUp7Bc[/embed]

Nick Suzuki on Alex Newhook's injury

"He is one of our good players and no matter how long he is gone, we will be missing a good player. Seems like it happens a lot with our team, but it opens the door for another player."

Canadiens Rotation Continues, Primeau Will Start | PREVIEW: FLA @ MTL

Alex Newhook will be evaluated on Friday after sustaining a lower body injury early in the third period. The Canadiens will prepare to host the Florida Panthers on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in their first game in December.

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