CANADIENS
Montreal

PANTHERS
Florida

Game Notes:

This was an odd game.  Whether it was the swaths of empty seats or the level of play, the first period had the feel of an AHL game.  The Canadiens are a good team who aren’t playing very well lately.  The Panthers, once on the path to make the playoffs, have fallen back (Sports Club Stats estimates their current playoff chances at 1.6 per cent.)

The last time these two teams met, Florida was just one point back of the Bruins for the final playoff spot.  Tomas Fleischmann, who was dispatched to Anaheim at the trade deadline, had a goal and was named the first star. Carey Price faced Olympic teammate Roberto Luongo. And Michel Therrien was under fire for his bizarre choices during the shootout.

Tonight it was Dustin Tokarski making a rare start, with former Canadien (for all of three days) Dan Ellis at the opposite end.  With some sloppy puck-handling and rebounds regularly directed into the slot, fans were quickly reminded how spoiled they have been by the goaltending of Carey Price.  Fortunately, the Panthers had trouble finding their way to loose pucks.

The first period was rather evenly played and ended without a goal.

All five goals in the game were scored in the second period.  Neither Tokarski or Ellis looked particularly stellar.

Tokarski hiked up his saggy hockey pants and went to work in the third period. The battling goaltender made 21 saves in the final 20 minutes while the Canadiens only managed four shots in the period.

The Canadiens got contributions from unlikely sources such as Alexei Emelin (1 goal, plus-1), Jacob de la Rose (1 shorthanded goal, 1 assist, plus-2) and Brandon Prust (2 assists, plus-1.)  De la Rose had one of his best games of late, skating miles at both ends of the ice during his 15:29.

That was more than David Desharnais’ icetime listed at 14:00 where he was a minus-1 and just 18 per cent in the faceoff circle.

Lars Eller continued his strong play since the trade deadline and was arguably the best forward for the Canadiens in this game. Eller has the size, skill and skating strength to dominate the boards like no other member of the Canadiens.  Winning battles is an important part of the Canadiens puck management game that doesn’t allways translate into points.  But now those are coming with some regularity and tonight, he looked far more comfortable and effective at centre. Eller played 17:12 tallying an assist and was 67 per cent in faceoffs.

Montreal got their two points without Carey Price in goal, but barely.  The coach had his favorite standby excuse ready: fatigue.  The well-tanned Therrien blamed the lack of energy in the third period on the back-to-back games in Florida.  The Canadiens have one of the easiest travel schedules in the league.

Instead the coach might acknowledge that fatigue may be the result of getting pasted to the boards on a consistent basis.  Montreal was outhit tonight 35-22. The effect can be seen in a player like Alex Galchenyuk who disappeared during the very physical western road trip and hasn’t yet made a full return.

The Canadiens have quite a list of players who play soft and Devante Smith-Pelly isn’t playing well enough to stem the tide on his own.

Plus / Minus

▲     Lars Eller, Jacob de la Rose, Brandon Prust, P.K. Subban, Alexei Emelin, Dustin Tokarski

▼     Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert, David Desharnais, Devante Smith-Pelly, Alex Galchenyuk

1.  Dustin Tokarski  MTL
2.  P.K. Subban  MTL
3.  Brandon Pirri  FLA

• “Those guys were great. We need contributions from different players. I thought Brandon Prust made some quality plays to get two goals from it. I thought De La Rose was really good. He was really dependable on the ice. Lars Eller competed really hard. It’s nice to see some contributions from different players.”
• “We played [Monday], a really emotional game. I could tell in the third period that the energy level was pretty low. And when the energy is not quite there, the execution is not there. But [the Panthers] played really well, they pressed really hard, they were tough to play against.“
• “[Dustin Tokarski] was exceptional, especially in the third period when we were short on energy after playing four games in six nights.  Of course I liked the way Dustin played in the first and second periods, but in the third he really earned that win. I can’t say it was his best outing of the year, but it was a really good one.”

Jacob de la Rose

• “It’s always nice to get a goal. It was a good pass by (Brandon) Prust.  I don’t know where their D was there; 2-on-0 on a PK is pretty rare.”

Panthers forward Nick Bjugstad

• “The power play changes the game. Especially when they score a shorthanded goal, it really takes the energy out of us. That was a tough one.”

Panthers coach Gerard Gallant

• “Guys are cheating up … and mistakes happen. Disappointed to give them three goals in that second period because I thought we played a pretty good game again, but no points.”