Florida Panthers Fall Victim to Playoff Hungry Habs, Again

The Florida Panthers continue to struggle against the Eastern Conference wild card field. They will have to learn to deal with that with four more games against it remaining.

SUNRISE, Fla. — For the third time in the past two weeks, the Florida Panthers fell victim to another team deep in the Eastern Conference wild card race.

Florida fell 4-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night, fighting back from two separate one-goal deficits before falling behind early in the third period via a Nick Suzuki one-timer.

The Panthers lost 3-1 to Montreal on March 15 after giving up two first-period goals before falling 4-2 the New York Islanders the following day after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period.

“I think we stayed in it,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I don’t think our game fell off. The game [on] the Island was a little different coming off of a back-to-back, but I didn’t feel that we were off.

“We will look at some plays that we didn’t execute. If you expand past the chances for and against, there were a couple of guys who weren’t at their best.”

Every team in that wild card race came into Sunday afternoon with a .500 record in their past 10 games, but they have given the defending champions their best at every opportunity.

“They play really hard,” captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Their lives are on the line. They want to make the playoffs, and obviously, we’re trying to do the same thing. They played really hard and really well, so we just have to be better.”

The Canadiens, who jumped into that final wild card spot with the win, are now 4-3-3 in that 10-game span. Two of those wins are against the Panthers and they will play them again on Tuesday night.

Florida needs to be prepared for that same energy from them on the back half of the home-and-home set.

“We were going through it two years ago when we were fighting for our playoff lives and we put together a really good stretch,” Carter Verhaeghe said.

“I think they’re desperate, they have a lot to play for. They haven’t made the playoffs in a couple years and they’re hungry and it’s for us to kind of match that. And sometimes it’s easier for them to get up for it. They’re fighting for it, so it’s for us to kind of match it.”

On Sunday night, the Canadiens were able to connect on two power play goals early to get the ball rolling and lock up in the third period after Suzuki’s one-timer.

Florida was held to seven shots, six scoring chances and four high-danger chances in the third period while Samuel Montembeault held steady in net.

“They play fast, they play physical, and they’re a really good team,” Verhaeghe said. “They have a really good power play and really skilled players. For us, coming into it, we got to be ready for a good match-up.”

The Panthers are nowhere near done with finding themselves in the midst of dogfights with desperate teams.

On top of Tuesday’s match-up with Montreal, the Panthers play the New York Rangers (who are tied with the Canadiens for the last wild card spot) once, the Detroit Red Wings (who are three points back of Montreal) twice and the top wild card spot-holding Ottawa Senators once.

Florida also has two match-ups with the Toronto Maple Leafs and one game against the Tampa Bay Lightning that have huge implications on its own battle for the top seed in the Atlantic Division.

The Panthers currently trail the Leafs by one point for the No. 1 spot.

It won’t be smooth sailing at all for them if they want that top seed.

“We have to do the same things we’ve been doing the whole year,” Barkov said. “We have to get ready for the games and we know what to do. We just have to bring that for the full 60 minutes and we’ll be fine.”