5 Takeaways: Panthers Shut Out Canadiens for 5th Straight Victory

SUNRISE, Fla. - The Florida Panthers swept their annual holiday homestand and extended their season-long winning streak to five games with a 2-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at BB&T Center on Saturday night.
In short, the Panthers are starting to have some fun.

"You've always got a smile on your face," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said of the winning streak. "You're coming to the rink and you feel energized. When things are going good, your confident just like a player... I think that we're always looking for things that we can do better and preparing for opponents, but it's nice to see that the room is a good place."
Connor Brickley scored the game-winning goal for Florida, pouncing on a loose puck and putting it past goalie Carey Price to put the Panthers up 1-0 at 4:02 of the second period. It was a lead they'd never relinquish.
"We've been really nailing down the system," said Brickley, who was awarded a rugby jersey and ball as the team-appointed player of the game. "It's just nice to see us get rewarded by it. It's good to see in the locker room, just bright faces every day and real positive attitudes all around."
Although Vincent Trocheck would add an insurance goal to make it 2-0 at 11:49 of the third period, Brickley's score was all the Panthers would need to capture a big two points thanks to another stellar performance from their goaltender, James Reimer.
Making his 11th consecutive start in net, Reimer pitched his second shutout in three games, stopping all 38 shots he faced to improve to 7-3-1 since starter Roberto Luongo suffered a lower-body injury on Dec. 4.
"You just break it down as the game goes on," Reimer said of his continued success. "You don't put too much expectation on yourself. It's just playing the game, coming to the rink the next day and practicing hard."
Here are five takeaways from Saturday's win in Sunrise…

1. BRICK HOUSE

Connor Brickley opened the scoring on Saturday night, putting the Panthers up 1-0 at 4:02 of the second. The goal - which was followed by quite the celebration - was Brickley's second game winner in his past four games. On Dec. 22, he scored the deciding goal in a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild in Sunrise - the first game of Florida's four-game homestand. After re-joining the Panthers this offseason, Brickley has carved out a nice role on the third line alongside Jared McCann and Jamie McGinn. But not long after his goal, Brickley was promoted to the second line, where he went on to play for the rest of the night. "The coach wants every line going and you need someone to drive each line," said Brickley, who has a career-high 11 points (4-7-11) in 28 games this season. "Whatever he sees, he's just going to call it out. That's the way it is and it's been working - five games in a row here and we're feeling good."

2. LIKE MIKE

With an assist on Brickley's second-period tally, Mike Matheson has now racked up six points (3-3-6) in his last 10 games - the most among Florida's defensive corps during that span. The 23-year-old is now also tied with Aaron Ekblad for the second-most points by a Panthers defenseman this season with 12; Keith Yandle leads the way with 21. After enduring a 28-game goal drought to start the season, Matheson scored three goals on the Panthers' recent five-game road trip and is on pace to surpass the career-high 17 points he posted as a rookie in 2016-17. In addition to his offensive numbers, Matheson has also been a standout on defense throughout the entire season, ranking first among Florida's defensemen in blocks (57) and takeaways (31). In the third period of Saturday's game, it was Matheson's nifty stick work that denied Montreal of what could have been a game-changing breakaway. "He made a lot of great plays tonight," Boughner said. "I thought he was our best defenseman."

3. TROCHECK HALFWAY TO 30

Trocheck has reached the halfway point on his long road to the 30-goal plateau, scoring his team-leading 15th goal of the season on Saturday night. On a 2-on-1 break with defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, Trocheck said all he had to do was go to the net, as Weegar beat Montreal's Jordie Benn with a nice move before setting up Trocheck for the easy goal at 11:49 of the third period. "Honestly, I did the least out of anybody," Trocheck said of the score. "I just went to the net." With the goal, the 24-year-old center moved back into a tie with Jonathan Huberdeau for the team-lead in points (36).

4. REIMER KEEPS ROLLING

At this point, it looks as if the Panthers will go as far as Reimer will take them. The 29-year-old backup-turned-starter owns a 1.20 goals-against average, a .966 save percentage and two shutouts during Florida's five-game winning streak. "He's making those saves when we need him," Boughner said. "His rebound control, when he's on it's not dropping in front of him, it's kicking it off into the corners. That makes it easier on our players. He's giving us confidence in his game." Reimer will likely make his 12th consecutive start when Florida visits Minnesota in the first game of a five-game road trip that starts on Tuesday.

5. STILL SEARCING FOR POWER

The Panthers had several chances to pull away on Saturday night, but once again couldn't muster any magic with the man advantage. Florida finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play against Montreal, generating only three total shots on goal with the extra attacker. "We knew what we wanted to execute on the power play tonight and we didn't do it," Boughner said. "There were some certain things we were looking for, we wanted to attack the goal line a little more, but for some reason we just didn't execute." The Panthers began the night with the league's 23rd ranked power play (16.2 percent) and have now gone 2-for-26 over their last 10 games with the man advantage. Still, Boughner said he isn't too worried. "Power play and penalty kill, those are two things that are going to be up and down during a season," he said. "We've just got to find a way to get back on board now."