Excerpt from 'Rocket Hockey Report' of host Amy Johnson commenting on how tight the playoff race has become in the AHL's North Division. GAME RECAP | MONTREAL CANADIENS 5 VS FLORIDA PANTHERS 3 | FINAL CANADIENS LINEUP Forwards 22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky 11 Brendan Gallagher - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia 17 Josh Anderson - 71 Jake Evans - 56 Jesse Ylonen 55 Michael Pezzetta - 36 Colin White - 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard Defensemen 8 Mike Matheson - 21 Kaiden Guhle 72 Arber Xhekaj - 58 David Savard 47 Jayden Struble - 54 Jordan Harris Goaltenders Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau Out of the lineup Scratches: Tanner Pearson, Johnathan Kovacevic Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Joshua Roy (hand) CANADIENS CONNECTION ON YOUTUBE [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMawuRfIFsk[/embed] The Canadiens love game day Tuesdays! Since the beginning of February, Montreal has lost just once when playing on Tuesday and that loss came in overtime. In that span they have won seven times. In consecutive Tuesdays, the Canadiens have earned upset wins against the Colorado Avalanche and the Florida Panthers, teams who are presently hovering around the 100-point mark. And in tonight's game Montreal simply outplayed a Panthers team who turned in a flat performance. The Panthers led the game at the first intermission on carbon copy goals by Anton Lundell and Aleksander Barkov. Florida took advantage of defensive miscues and some shoddy goaltending. The Panthers goals were sandwiched around Joel Armia's 14th goal of the season. Early in the second period, Brendan Gallagher's tenacity around the pads of Anthony Stolarz led to a goal review. It quickly became clear that the puck didn't cross the goal line but mistakenly referee Eric Furlatt announced a goal at centre ice. After the Canadiens and their fans celebrated, the referee acknowledged his error. Oddly that seemed to provide a boost to the Canadiens and deflate the Panthers. Nick Suzuki scored a short time later and then added a second goal before the period had expired. Montreal took control in the middle frame and never looked back. Cole Caufield scored a wraparound goal just 33 seconds into the third period while Jake Evans added a shorthanded marker. Montreal clearly won the special teams battle on this night. The Canadiens cruised to a 5-3 win ending a seven game losing streak against the Panthers. GAME STATISTICS Canadiens (29-33-12) Shots: 39 Face-off %: 36.4 Power play: 1/7 Penalty minutes: 26 Hits: 20 Blocks: 18 Panthers (47-24-5) Shots: 40 Face-off %: 63.6 Power play: 0/5 Penalty minutes: 40 Hits: 15 Blocks: 16 SCORING SUMMARY Canadiens Scorers 1st period: Armia (14) 2nd period: Suzuki (31), Suzuki (32)-PPG 3rd period: Caufield (21), Evans (7)-SHG OT: -- SO: -- Panthers Scorers 1st period: Lundell (10), Barkov (22) 2nd period: -- 3rd period: Bennett (18)-SHG OT: -- SO: -- Goaltenders MTL: Montembeault (W) 15-14-7 FLA: Stolarz (L) 14-7-2 CANADIENS PLAYER OF THE GAME Nick Suzuki - Suzuki scored twice and led the team with six shots on goal. Jake Evans - Evans scored a goal and was perfect on the penalty kill. He was also the Canadiens top faceoff man in this game. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNkQx3glzsg[/embed] POST-GAME QUOTES Martin St. Louis on Juraj Slafkovsky "I think he understands with his size, physicality is always going to be a big part of how he conducts himself on the ice without running around looking for stuff that's not there." UP NEXT The Canadiens will continue their five-game homestand on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. 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. The Hockey News: Pick A Free Issue! [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAwNTk3MTk4Mzc0MTE4Nzc2/hockeynewsad.jpg] The Hockey News: Pick A Free Issue!
