CANADIENS
Montreal

PANTHERS
Florida

Game Report

The Montreal Canadiens are officially going to the 2014-15 post-season.  But for a fanbase that has far more lofty expectations, simply making the playoffs was a given. With six games remaining (three at home, three on the road) incentive remains high to capture as many of the 12 points as possible.  The Habs have just eight regulation losses at the Bell Centre, tied with Tampa Bay and Detroit for the fewest in the Eastern conference.  Home ice means something.

If the playoffs began tomorrow, the Canadiens, as the top team in the East, would face the Bruins, who improved their playoff chances with a win over the Rangers on Saturday.  But the Blue Shirts are just one point back of the Habs with two games in hand, one of which will be played on Sunday.

Montreal will be looking to add at least two more wins to the incredible season of Carey Price who would then hold the franchise record for regular season victories.  Max Pacioretty is just four away from the 40-goal plateau.

Pacioretty and his linemates were quiet against Florida until the overtime goal.  P.A Parenteau was a no-show and David Desharnais couldn’t compete with the Panthers physical defense.  Desharnais took an interference penalty that led to the Panthers second goal on the resulting power-play.

Alex Galchenyuk had a goal on just one shot but it was a sign of life from a player who has been mired in a slump.  Lars Eller was the Canadiens best forward, scoring the opening goal. He and Jacob de la Rose once again did a superb job of winning puck battles and maintaining  possession in the offensive zone. Brian Flynn didn’t offer much but his skating allowed him to keep up with his linemates to a much better extent than Devante Smith-Pelly.

It was a rough night for P.K. Subban with a whopping five giveaways including two that, unless for the heroics of Carey Price, were sure goals for Florida.  Rather than thank Price, Subban slid into him causing an awkward fall. Price reached for his right knee as he was on the ice  but was able to get to his skates and finish the game.  Subban earned a second assist on Pacioretty’s goal.

The rest of the defense played well. With an assist, Jeff Petry had his first point as a Canadien.  Greg Pateryn led the team with five hits. Alexei Emelin had five blocked shots.

▲     Lars Eller, Carey Price, Greg Pateryn, Jeff Petry, Alexei Emelin, Alex Galchenyuk, Jacob de la Rose

▼     P.K. Subban, Brian Flynn, David Desharnais, Torrey Mitchell, Dale Weise, P.A. Parenteau

1.  Max Pacioretty  MTL
2.  Aleksander Barkov  FLA
3.  Lars Eller  MTL

• “You could see that neither team wanted to open up too much, wanted to make sure not to make the mistake that would cost them the game. So you saw how important the two points were for each team.”
• “I liked our composure. The Panthers aren’t an easy team to beat.  Our power play was one of the highlights tonight, and that’s something we need to build off of now that we’re officially in the playoffs. We want to position ourselves as strongly as possible to make sure we’re ready.”

Max Pacioretty

• “It’s a good feeling. Our number one goal every camp is to make the playoffs, and now that we’ve done that, we’ve got a big goal to fill.”
• “We want to build off last year and we had a lot of success last year, but it’s because we had the right mindset. And if we go into this playoffs with the right mindset, that’s the only way we’re going to have success.”
• “We did the job tonight but at the end of the day we’ve got to get some momentum heading into the playoffs. That’s our goal right now and we’ve got to get everybody on board. Tonight was a good step, but we’ve still got work to do.”

Lars Eller

• “That’s where we want to be. We’re happy, but we’re not satisfied.”
• “It’s encouraging for us. We’ll recognize that we’ve accomplished something tonight, but it’s just the first step of many that we have yet to take. It shows that we’ve done something well. Every game from tonight on is very important. I can’t stress that enough. We don’t just turn it off now and turn it back on on April 15. We’ve all got something to play for. We want to finish first in our division, we want home ice advantage… all those things. That’s what we’re going to play for now.”

Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell

• “It’s a playoff game for us. It’s our season. Tonight doesn’t help by not getting two points. We’ve got Ottawa and Boston coming up; they’re must-win games.”

Panthers coach Gerard Gallant

• “It’s probably a call, but when you don’t call it all night then you call it in overtime that’s what’s disappointing. That’s what I thought, anyway. I agree it was probably a penalty. He touched him on the helmet with his stick, barely, but it’s probably a call. But the way the game was officiated all night I thought it would take a lot more than that to get a penalty in overtime.”