Five consecutive losses: that’s the streak the Habs were trying to stop this afternoon in Sunrise.
Beating the champions once is a tough task, can Montreal beat them three times in a row? Here are the lines:
Today’s formation
Today’s lineup#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/wQvoRa2aK4
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 30, 2025
#FlaPanthers lines vs. #Habs ⬇
Verhaeghe – Barkov – Reinhart
Samoskevich – Bennett – Marchand
Luostarinen – Lundell – Boqvist
Greer – Sturm – Rodrigues
Forsling – Jones
Mikkola – Schmidt
Bjornfot – Balinskis
Bobrovsky
Vanecek
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) March 30, 2025
For the second game in a row, the Habs took the lead.
Okay, the first goal wasn’t scored as quickly as in Carolina, but a bit after the middle of the period, Patrik Laine, on the powerplay, broke the ice. His 19th goal of the season. 15 of his 19 goals have been scored with a man advantage.
Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson collected the assists on the goal.
From Lane Hutson to Patrik Laine and it’s done, it’s 1-0! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/sAr6JPwgjk
— RDS (@RDSca) March 30, 2025
Like in Carolina, the pleasure was short-lived. A few seconds later, Sam Reinhart tied the game.
Sam Reinhart answers right away for Florida.
1-1. pic.twitter.com/qmixGF0ClT
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 30, 2025
Another powerplay smiled on the Habs in the second period.
This time, it’s Juraj Slafkovsky who surprised Sergei Bobrovsky.
Slafkovsky celebrates his 21st birthday in the best way possible pic.twitter.com/Rzyu7mSKqf
— TVA Sports (@TVASports) March 30, 2025
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Happy 21st birthday, Slaf! On the goal, Hutson collected his second point of the game. But like in the first period, Florida came back.
Samuel Montembeault would certainly like to see Seth Jones’ shot again.
A gift from Montembeault to Seth Jones, it’s 2-2 at the end of the 2nd! pic.twitter.com/LGqP4bxraN
— RDS (@RDSca) March 30, 2025
Montreal started the third period strongly.
Lane Hutson (again) found his captain at the mouth and Suzuki didn’t ask for much.
Hutson does it again and Suzuki gives the Habs the lead pic.twitter.com/JLa76ZTvHk
— TVA Sports (@TVASports) March 30, 2025
The young defender is now just one point away from Nicklas Lindstrom and seventh place in history for points by a rookie defender. The visitors then solidified their win with an empty net. Brendan Gallagher, from his zone, scored a big goal.
Big blocked shot by Christian Dvorak, Brendan Gallagher scores the insurance goal! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/bwbrTUHMRN
— RDS (@RDSca) March 30, 2025
Final score: 4-2. The Habs are undefeated in three games this season against the champions.
Martin St-Louis’ team will face the Panthers again on Tuesday. This time, the game will be played in Montreal.
Overtime
– Good question.
Someone remind me: why aren’t the Habs doing Matheson/Hutson, Guhle/Carrier anymore? From memory, we had our best run with those pairings and if you have Guhle/Carrier playing 1st pair mins, it gives Matheson a break
— HFTV (@HFTVSports) March 30, 2025
– An 800th game for Aleksander Barkov.
800 games as a Cat!
Congrats, Cap 👏 pic.twitter.com/cYK4KK56wa
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) March 30, 2025
– It would have been nice.
Patrik Laine has legs today 😱 pic.twitter.com/bMak7OjLaB
— TVA Sports (@TVASports) March 30, 2025
– Obviously.
still not friends
still a rival#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/8hg96q4tjz
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 30, 2025