Tatar’s two goals too much for Panthers to overcome

Roberto Luongo buried his mask in the ice.

Tomas Tatar had scored his second goal of the night – the go-ahead tally with 11:06 left in the third period -- as the Panthers lost 5-3 to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.

It was a crucial loss for the Panthers, who couldn’t take advantage of the fact that Montreal’s Carey Price, who won the Vezina Trophy in 2015 as the NHL’s best netminder, missed the game due to a lower-body injury.

He was replaced by Antti Niemi, whose credentials this season are not stellar. Still, Niemi made 23 saves and earned the win.

Luongo, a native of Montreal, also made 23 saves and watched his record slip to 8-7-1.

There was an energetic crowd at the BB&T Center as Canadiens fans often drowned out their Panthers counterparts with chants of “Go Habs Go!”

Florida, which is 4-2-0 in its past six games, played its first home game since Dec. 15.

But, with this loss, Florida is nine points behind Montreal with two games in hand. Montreal started the night holding the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference as we approach the halfway point of the season.

Besides Tatar, Nicloas Deslauriers, Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin also scored for Montreal.

Florida got early goals from a pair of 21-year-olds, Henrik Borgstrom and Denis Malgin, and a late score from veteran defenseman Keith Yandle.

Montreal led this game 2-0 with less than three minutes played.

Just 35 seconds in, Tatar scored unassisted on a backhander after a turnover by Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson behind his own net.

With 2:51 expired, Montreal caught another break as a shot by Victor Mete went in off the body of Deslauriers. The puck knucled over Luongo’s left shoulder.

Florida, though, fought back to tie the score 2-2 on the first-period goals by Borgstrom and Malgin.

With 8:01 expired, Mike Hoffman dropped a pass to Borgstrom, and the rookie’s wrist shot from the slot beat Niemi stick-side. It was the third goal in 10 career games for Borgstrom, who was Florida’s first-round pick in 2016.

Malgin scored with 13:53 gone in the first, taking a pass from Troy Brouwer. Malgin didn’t get much on his shot but just enough to slide it past Niemi. It was Malgin’s fourth goal in 23 games this season, but it was also the second straight game in which he has scored.

Montreal killed off two penalties in a scoreless second period and then got the goals from Tatar and Lehkonen in the third to lead 4-2.

Yandle scored with 1:16 left, but Drouin’s empty-netter with 23 seconds left gave Montreal the final margin.

THIS AND THAT

▪ Panthers second-line center Vincent Trocheck, who hasn’t played since Nov. 19 due to a fractured right ankle, could return to game action in early February, coach Bob Boughner said. Trocheck could start skating in a week.

▪ Backup goalie James Reimer will likely get the start for the Panthers on Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.

▪ Jonathan Huberdeau’s sister Josiane sang the Canadian national anthem before Friday’s game.

▪ Friday marked the first time Canadiens forward Max Domi has played against the Panthers since he was suspended for the rest of the preseason schedule for sucker-punching Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad, breaking his nose and issuing two black eyes

▪ Luongo called Domi’s punch “gutless” and said the act won’t be forgotten. However, there were no incidents in Friday’s game.