MTL@FLA: Successful start to the sequence in the Sunshine State

SUNRISE - The Canadiens knew they were in for a battle, and not just because they were facing a divisional rival hungry to steal away their Wild Card spot.

It was also because the Habs had failed to score against the Florida Panthers in three consecutive games (all of them last season), but it took them just 35 seconds into their first dance with the Cats this season to snap the streak and get on the board.

Tomas Tatar holds the honor of ending the drought with his first of two on the night. And while Nicolas Deslauriers would make it 2-0 just over two minutes later, the Canadiens allowed the Panthers to sneak back into the game and tie things up before the first frame wound down.

Still, they didn't let up, scoring three third-period goals - from Tatar, Artturi Lehkonen, and Jonathan Drouin - to take an important first game back after the Christmas break. If you ask Brendan Gallagher, the club's ability to stay the course boils down to a matter of facing the challenge and going back to one's roots.
"You're going to deal with adversity. We knew the game wasn't over. When you get up 2-0 it helps, but we allowed them to get back in it a little quicker than we wanted," admitted Gallagher, who finished with a plus-2 differential. "We knew why we had success as well, so we just tried to get back to the things we were doing that led to us getting that lead. It felt like we were able to play in their zone a bit more as the game went on and we were able to wear them down."
It certainly didn't hurt to have some help between the pipes, and Antti Niemi did just that as he stepped up to fill in for an injured Carey Price. Not that that came as any surprise to Gallagher, mind you.
"He's been awesome for us all year. Obviously, Pricey is Pricey," he said. "But when you can have a guy like Nemo step in there… we have all the confidence in the world that he's going to get the job done. Time after time, since he's been here, he's been reliable. Once again tonight, he proved that."

For his part, Niemi shone the light on the men in front of him, who allowed only two shots from three of the Panthers' top-4 scorers - Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, and Evegenii Dadonov - to get through to him, with only Barkov getting on the scoresheet with an assist.
"I think that was great. We didn't really give them too much," described Niemi, who stopped 23 shots. "They got a couple of power plays, but that was pretty much it. We did the work."

Speaking of power plays, the Habs' efforts on the man advantage seems to be yielding results. With Tatar's second of the night coming with his team up a man, the Canadiens now have three power play goals in their last four games.
"I think we're starting to find our confidence. It's all about making the right plays. We did a lot of videos with Kirk. We try to see what we did wrong. Hopefully, we'll continue to play the same way," explained Tatar, who now leads the Canadiens with three multi-goal nights this season. "I think our breakouts have gotten a lot better, and we're getting a lot more shots, creating more chances in their zone."

Tatar now has four points in his last two games, but he was in no mood to focus on personal accomplishments after seeing his team win its third game in a row.
"It's a team effort every night, and it doesn't really matter who's going to score and produce. What we care about the most is points for the team," he concluded. "I think we're heading in the right direction."