Excerpt from 'Habs Hockey Report' of host Amy Johnson commenting on how active the Montreal Canadiens should be heading into the 2024 trade deadline. GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 1 vs Florida Panthers 4 | FINAL Florida Panthers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAzMjg4MzUyOTQwNjMxNjE5/20231230_221251_0000.png] Florida Panthers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. CANADIENS LINEUP Forwards 22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky 91 Sean Monahan - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson 40 Joel Armia - 28 Christian Dvorak - 11 Brendan Gallagher 55 Michael Pezzetta - 13 Mitchell Stephens - 56 Jesse Ylonen Defensemen 8 Mike Matheson - 58 David Savard 21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron 47 Jayden Struble - 54 Jordan Harris Goaltenders Starter: 34 Jake Allen Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau Out of the lineup Scratches: Gustav Lindstrom, Johnathan Kovacevic, Sam Montembeault Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body), Alex Newhook (lower body), Tanner Pearson (upper body) GAME REPORT The Montreal Canadiens have faced two teams who are top-5 in the Eastern Conference in consecutive games. And against the Hurricanes and Panthers, the Habs have shown just how far they are from being a contender. In Sunrise, the visitors struggled to generate offense throughout the game. After 40 minutes, the Habs generated a meagre eight shots on goal. Cole Caufield scored the only Montreal goal on the power-play. At five-on-five, the Canadiens managed just three high-danger scoring chances in the entire game. The Montreal video coaches secured a victory when they recommended that a power play goal by Carter Verhaeghe be challenged for offside. After review, the goal was disallowed. Even with the goal waived, the Panthers power play went two for three in the game. Eetu Luostarinen scored twice with the man advantage. The Canadiens penalty kill is a mess, currently second worst in the NHL at a 71.9 per cent efficiency. Jake delivered another strong performance in goal making 22 saves without getting goal support. The Canadiens lost their sixth straight game to the Panthers and tenth of their last eleven games against Florida. GAME STATISTICS Canadiens (15-15-5) Shots: 19 Face-off %: 59.2 Power play: 1/2 Penalty minutes: 11 Hits: 13 Blocks:17 Panthers (22-12-2) Shots: 26 Face-off %: 40.8 Power play: 2/3 Penalty minutes: 9 Hits: 15 Blocks: 12 SCORING SUMMARY Canadiens Scorers 1st period: -- 2nd period: Caufield (9)-PPG 3rd period: -- OT: -- SO: -- Panthers Scorers 1st period: -- 2nd period: Luostarinen (6)-PPG 3rd period: Luostarinen (7)-PPG, Bennett (6), Verhaeghe (18)-ENG OT: -- SO: -- Goaltenders MTL: Allen (L) 4-7-2 FLA: Stolarz (W) 5-3-1 CANADIENS PLAYERS OF THE GAME Cole Caufield - Caufield scored the only goal for the Canadiens on the power play. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4_3VU1Tlaw[/embed] POST-GAME QUOTES Martin St. Louis "We had trouble executing defensively on puck recoveries and we spent more time in our zone. The Panthers don't give much space. We were sending the puck to the back of their zone, but we were making changes at the same time. It's difficult to get the puck back when there is only one player on the forecheck." UP NEXT The Canadiens remain in Florida for a date with the Tampa Bay Lightning on New Year's Eve. Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal [https://thn.com/montreal] for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world. Gretzky Signature Series. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAxNzAzMjM2NzQxMTEzNjIw/gretzky-northland.jpg] Gretzky Signature Series.
