Panthers survive — and hope to take lesson from — disastrous stretch in win vs. Canadiens

For a long while Tuesday, the Florida Panthers were on the verge of making their newcomers’ first game in Sunrise an easy one. They were up by three on the Montreal Canadiens with less than 25 minutes to go, and Andrew Brunette was already experimenting with different lineup combinations.

In less than two minutes, the Panthers’ lead vanished, though, and Florida was caught in another third-period battle, forced to scratch out a 7-4 win on a game-winning goal by Jonathan Huberdeau with 18:41 remaining.

It was another win for these new-look Panthers — they’ve now won 3 of 4 since trade-deadline acquisitions Claude Giroux, Ben Chiarot and Robert Hagg debuted Thursday — but it was also another mixed performance for a group still trying to fully coalesce.

“When you make moves and get new players, it’s kind of hard to develop chemistry and feel,” Brunette said. “Nights like tonight kind of give you an opportunity to move things around.”

The final numbers painted a picture of dominance for Florida — the Panthers outshot the Canadiens, 46-24, and had a 49-24 edge in scoring chances — and for the vast majority of the game the Panthers (45-15-6) were in control. An awful two-minute stretch at the end of the second period, however, was enough to make for an uneasy second intermission and a competitive third period.

While Huberdeau gave Florida a 5-4 lead early in the third, the Panthers didn’t score again until 5:17 remained and the 15,587 inside FLA Live Arena could finally exhale. Those two minutes made a game against the worst team in the NHL much tougher than it should’ve been for first-place Florida.

“We were all over them,” Huberdeau said. “We were in the zone and maybe having too much fun.”

For a long stretch from the end of the first period deep into the second, the Panthers’ latest performance was also the best for this particular group. They scored four straight goals in 11:14 of game time to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead and held Montreal (18-37-11) to just five shots on goal in the second by spending virtually the entire period on offense. It took only 1:42, however, for the Canadiens to tie the game and expose the defensive issues Florida still faces, even after the acquisitions of Chiarot and Hagg.

“We just got a little careless and it’s been a little bit of ongoing here and there, especially at home sometimes,” Brunette said. “It’s just nights like tonight where we have the puck a lot and we feel good about ourselves. We’re not really managing that part of the game all that well.”

On offense, Florida did what it almost always does. The Panthers are the only team in the NHL averaging more than four goals per game and they scored their fourth Tuesday with 12:03 left in the second period. They got contributions from their stars — Huberdeau scored a game-tying, shorthanded goal with 3:43 left in the first perod for Florida’s first goal — and their fourth line. Left wing Ryan Lomberg, a feisty fan favorite, put the Panthers ahead 2-1 on a one-timer with 2:03 left in the first and gave them their 4-1 lead when he scored his second with 12:03 left in the second.

Lomberg punctuated his second goal by pretending to fire an arrow and Florida tried to use the big cushion to experiment — and maybe chase a hat trick.

For the next 10 minutes or so, Brunette took every offensive-zone faceoff as an opportunity to stick Lomberg next to Huberdeau and star center Aleksander Barkov, trying to get him a third. The interim coach also split up Barkov and Giroux for the first time, taking a look at how his new All-Star forward could operate away from his captain.

Those experiments could only last so long, though. The defense — with its depth as the closest thing Florida has to a weakness — was never good Tuesday, surrendering 14 high-danger chances. In the second period, the Canadiens only tested star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky five times and beat him thrice, with two of those coming when the Panthers lost track of a Montreal skater in front of the net.

Although Chiarot had a primary assist in the second period when a heavy point shot created a rebound chance for forward Sam Bennett, the defenseman’s arrival — along with Hagg’s — was intended to bolster the Panthers’ defense and Florida hasn’t yet put together a lockdown effort, albeit with star defenseman Aaron Ekblad sidelined with a right knee injury.

“They’re getting comfortable,” Brunette said. “It’s a hard change as they’re coming from different teams and they play different styles.

Still, the Panthers’ offense is good enough to survive stretches like the one their defense went through Tuesday. It took only 1:19 in the third period for Huberdeau to score again — at the end of a pretty passing play by Lomberg and fellow forward Sam Bennett — and put Florida ahead for good 5-4.

With 5:17 left, winger Mason Marchment delivered the dagger and the Panthers came back from the brink of disaster to return to the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Said Lomberg: “We’ve got great leadership in that room.”

Noel Acciari leaves with injury

Forward Noel Acciari left during the first period and did not return.

Brunette said the forward is dealing with an upper-body injury and will be reevaluated Wednesday.

“Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious,” the coach said.

This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 9:50 PM.

David Wilson

Miami Herald

305-376-3406

David Wilson, a Maryland native, is the Miami Herald’s utility man for sports coverage.