After a five-game road trip in which the Canadiens collected six points out of a possible 10, the team was back in front of its fans tonight against the Panthers.
Here is Martin St-Louis’ lineup for the occasion:
Habs lineup vs Florida at 7 PM 
No changes other than Primeau in nets pic.twitter.com/Vz2iZ1L3Ur
– HFTV (@HFTVSports) November 30, 2023
And Paul Maurice’s:
#FlaPanthers in warmups:
Rodrigues – Barkov – Reinhart
Verhaeghe – Bennett – Tkachuk
Luostarinen – Lundell – Cousins
Gadjovich – Stenlund – Lomberg
Forsling – Ekblad
Mikkola – Montour
OEL – Kulikov
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
– Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) November 30, 2023
The first period was scoreless, but Josh Anderson had a golden opportunity to score his first goal of the season.
He appeared to break away from Sergei Bobrovsky, but was tripped.
However, the officials did not award a penalty shot, much to the dismay of Anderson and the fans.
Josh Anderson gets a partial break but is hauled down by Forsling. Habs powerplay. pic.twitter.com/bKYaKVDaIH
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 1, 2023
But you know what? I’m almost glad he didn’t get a penalty shot…
Imagine if Josh Anderson couldn’t score on a penalty shot though 
pic.twitter.com/ksCxU7Lca3
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) December 1, 2023
Ironically, 17 lost his spot on the first wave of the power play. What’s more, Mike Matheson cancelled the power play with a penalty of his own.
In the second period, both goaltenders were once again good. However, Cayden Primeau conceded once on a perfect shot from Aleksander Barkov.
After 40 minutes of play, it was 1-0 to the visitors.
A bad pass by Gustav Lindstrom leads to the opening goal of the game. Barkov beats Primeau with a clean shot.
1-0 Panthers. pic.twitter.com/2g115pkt14
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 1, 2023
Florida started the third period strong.
In the eighth second, Sam Bennett foiled Primeau with another low shot from the glove side.
Sam Bennett scores 8 seconds into the 3rd! pic.twitter.com/ErazGVfSAi
– Bally Sports Florida: Panthers (@BallyPanthers) December 1, 2023
And seconds later, Alex Newhook fell strangely on the net. He left toward the locker room and wasn’t able to put any weight on his left leg.
Not another injury…
Newhook’s foot gets stuck on the net. Needed some help to get to the bench, went to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/6ix6eKtRJg
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 1, 2023
Then it all fell apart.
First, Evan Rodrigues tripled Florida’s lead.
Evan Rodrigues scores his 4th goal of the season! pic.twitter.com/8sMMgXkyFJ
– Bally Sports Florida: Panthers (@BallyPanthers) December 1, 2023
Then Carter Verhaeghe scored a fourth unanswered goal.
All four goals were scored from the glove side. Have we found Primeau’s weak spot?
Power play goal for Florida!
Scored by Carter Verhaeghe with 14:11 remaining in the 3rd period.
Assisted by Aaron Ekblad and Evan Rodrigues.
Montreal: 0
Florida: 4#FLAvsMTL #GoHabsGo #TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/Vr34vAAo3I
– NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) December 1, 2023
Johnathan Kovacevic may have scored a goal, but it was inconsequential. Still, it was his fourth goal in seven games. Gotta do it.
Sergei Bobrovsky looked weak on the sequence.
#Habs Johnathan Kovacevic’s shot can’t be gloved by goalie and results to goal vs #Panthers
Assists: Caufield, Evans#GoHabsGo #NHL #Hockey @RocketSports pic.twitter.com/t050aezclI
– Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) December 1, 2023
And with less than a minute left in the game, Josh Anderson threw down the gloves against a tough guy on the other side, Jonah Gadjovich.
You can tell he’s tired, that Josh…
Anderson gets invited to fight and then beats the tar out of Gadjovich. pic.twitter.com/XVxQnqfTS4
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 1, 2023
Final score: 5-1 Florida, who added a late goal.
Martin St-Louis’ team returns to action on Saturday, when they host Patrick Kane’s Red Wings.
Extension
– Hard times in Montreal.
The number of empty seats in the reds is enough to worry Geoff Molson, his partners… and retailers.
The longer the rebuild goes on, the harder it’s going to be for some pockets.
– Maxime Truman (@MaximeTruman) December 1, 2023
– What a player!
Owen Beck takes matters into his own hands 
The @CanadiensMTL prospect with a textbook snipe!@PetesOHLhockey | #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/vdIwQdDp2s
– Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) December 1, 2023
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