RECAP: Canadiens 6, Panthers 2

MONTREAL – With another key player out of their already-depleted lineup, the Florida Panthers endured a 6-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday night.

Falling to 22-18-3 and dropping the second straight game on their road trip, the Panthers took the ice without their leading scorer, Brad Marchand, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

In defeat, Florida led 27-15 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.

“It’s frustrating because we’re fighting for our lives here, but that’s what we’re going to go through and what all the teams in the same situation are going to go through,” head coach Paul Maurice. “There was enough good in that game for us to have something to build on.”

Opening the scoring for Montreal Noah Dobson fired a slap shot from the point that went off a defender’s stick and past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 at 2:59 of the first period.

Doubling the lead for the Canadiens near the end of the period, Oliver Kapanen countered a poke check from Bobrovsky by batting in a floating puck to suddenly make it 2-0 at 17:35.

“It just felt like we were holding onto our sticks a little bit in the first [period],” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “In the second and third, we played better. That’s a good team. We had our pushes, and they capitalized when they needed to. It wasn’t good enough.”

Gathering themselves during the first intermission, the Panthers returned with some vigor.

Ramping up the pressure, the Panthers forced a mistake when Sam Montembeault turned the puck over to set up Sam Bennett for a wide-open goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 5:33.

Despite being in control for the vast majority of the period, the Panthers unfortunately went into the second intermission still facing a two-goal deficit after Alexandre Texier went to the net and tapped in a pass from Alexandre Carrier to put the Canadiens on top 3-1 at 13:41.

At 5-on-5, Florida led 13-5 in scoring chances in the second period.

Keeping themselves within striking distance, the Panthers killed off the remaining 54 seconds of an initial four-minute power play for the Canadiens to start the third period.

"Our penalty kill has been the one consistent thing," Maurice said.

Suffering from some more bad luck, the Panthers fell behind further when Texier, after having his initial pass blocked by a defender on a 2-on-1 rush, ended up with the puck right back on his stick before firing it past Bobrovsky from the left circle to make it 4-1 at 7:26.

“Some strange bounces,” Maurice said.

Cutting into the deficit with his second goal of the game, Bennett went to the doorstep and tapped in a rebound after a shot from Rodrigues in transition to make it 4-2 at 11:23.

Over his last 15 games, Bennett has lit the lamp nine times.

“He capitalized when he had the chances,” Rodrigues said. “He was good.”

Nearly completing his hat trick, Bennett was denied on a 2-on-1 by a big save from Montembeault, who finished with 25 saves between the pipes for the Canadiens.

After pulling Bobrovsky for a 6-on-5 advantage, Juraj Slafkovsky cashed in on the empty net to extend Montreal’s lead to 5-2 at 17:59. With just 50 remaining in regulation, Texier scored to complete his hat trick and lock in the 6-2 win for the Canadiens, who improve to 25-13-6.

“They’re a quick team,” Bennett said. “They use their speed to their advantage a lot. They did a good job of getting pucks and bodies to the net and making it tough on us. That wasn’t our best effort by a mile. Yeah, they used their speed tonight."

THEY SAID IT

“We were slow with the puck. Good bunch of guys. They want to do the right thing. They don’t want to make mistakes. But I thought that puck speed was a real problem for us. In the second, we loosened up a little.” – Paul Maurice

“They’re a good team. They played the right way. I feel like they were making the plays when they were there to be made, and weren’t when there wasn’t. I think they just played better than us.” – Evan Rodrigues

CATS STATS

- Sam Bennett recorded his second multi-goal game of the season.

- The Panthers led 3.11-1.78 in expected goals at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

- Mackie Samoskevich recorded five shots on goal.

- Sam Reinhart saw a team-high 24:16 of ice time.

- Anton Lundell went 13-for-19 (68.4%) in the faceoff circle.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The road trip rolls on.

With one last stop to make in Canada, the Panthers will battle the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

To find a place to watch in South Florida, click HERE.