The Florida Panthers returned home following a four-game road trip and lost to the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 at BB&T Center on Friday night. The Habs entered the contest with the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference seven points ahead of the Panthers.
Montreal(20-13-5) got out to an early 1-0 lead just 35 seconds into the first period. Brendan Gallagher stole the puck from Michael Matheson behind the Panthers cage. He centered it and Tomas Tatar backhanded a shot from the crease past Roberto Luongo.
The Habs made it 2-0 at the 2:51 mark. Victor Mete sent a wrist shot from the left point which was tipped in by Nicolas Deslauriers in the low slot. Shea Weber was also credited with an assist on the play. It was the fourth shot on goal by Montreal.
Florida(15-15-6) cut the lead down to 2-1 at 8:01. Mike Hoffman backhanded a pass from the low right circle to the slot and Henrik Borgstrom snapped a shot by Antti Niemi.
The Panthers tied the contest with 6:07 left in the period. A backhand centering pass from the low left circle by Troy Brouwer bounced off the back of Paul Byron to the low slot and Denis Malgin smacked the puck in for his fourth goal of the season.
After no scoring in the second period, the Canadiens regained the lead on the power play with 11:06 left in the third. Max Domi made a pass from the low left circle to Jonathan Drouin in the top left circle and he tapped it to his right. Tatar scored on a one-time slap shot from the right circle for his second tally of the game and 14th goal of the season.
The Habs extended their margin to 4-2 with 4:20 remaining in the period. Andrew Shaw raced around the right corner to the end wall. He found Artturi Lehkonen in the crease area and he roofed in a shot from close range.
The Cats scored with 1:16 to go when Mike Hoffman blasted a slap shot from the top of the zone. It was his 18th goal of the season. Florida pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, however Drouin put the puck into an empty net with 22.7 seconds left.
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