The Canadian’s power play finally had a good game, but the power play let him down.
Aleksander Barkov scored three times in the first period and added two assists to help the Florida Panthers thrash the Montreal club 7-2 Thursday at FLA Live Arena.
Barkov was back in action after a three-game absence with a lower-body injury. The game was only 15:22 old when the Panthers captain completed his hat trick.
Only one of Barkov’s goals came on the power play, but Matthew Tkachuk added two goals in that phase of play for the Panthers. Tkachuk also racked up two assists during the game.
Josh Anderson, on the power play, and Arber Xhekaj, at the very end of a Panthers penalty, scored for the Canadian (15-18-3), who suffered a fourth loss in a row (0-3-1 ). Samuel Montembeault made 34 saves.
Carter Verhaeghe and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for the Panthers (16-16-4), which snapped a three-game losing streak. Brandon Montour had two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots.
Forward Brendan Gallagher was back in action for the Canadiens after missing 13 games with an upper body injury. Evgenii Dadonov was also included in the training, while Michael Pezzetta and Anthony Richard were left out.
Defender Kaiden Guhle retreated to the locker room early after falling under Barkov’s weight late in the third period. He appeared to hurt his right leg.
The Canadiens will play their next game Saturday at 4 p.m. when they visit the Washington Capitals.
Barkov’s case
The Panthers quickly launched hostilities. Barkov was credited with his first goal of the game 2:37 into the game, when a Gustav Forsling shot deflected off his right skate before landing in the goal.
Barkov came back with 8:10 to go in the first period on the power play. He received a cross pass from Sam Reinhart, then beat Montembeault with an accurate shot.
The Canadian replied when a shot from Xhekaj surprised Bobrovsky with 5:46 to go, immediately after a penalty to Radko Gudas.
Barkov, however, completed his hat trick 68 seconds later. He recovered a comeback and beat Montembeault from the backhand.
Once again, the second power play unit revived the Canadian before the end of the engagement. Anderson took advantage of a comeback after a Mike Hoffman one-timer shot.
The power play of the Panthers had nothing to envy to that of the Canadian, while Tkachuk brought the score to 4-2 in favor of the home team after 6:22 of play in the second period. He deflected a shot from Montour behind Montembeault after the Habs were punished for having too many players on the rink.
The Canadian was limited to two shots on goal in the second period and needed four minutes of play before hitting the target for the first time in the final period.
To make matters worse, the Panthers widened the gap to 5-2 a few seconds later, at 4:16. Verhaeghe took advantage of a turnover to orchestrate a two-on-one attack and beat Montembeault with a precise shot over his right shoulder.
Tkachuk, again on the power play, then Luostarinen then turned the iron in the wound.
Things got worse towards the end of the meeting. Canadian defender Joel Edmundson was sent back to the locker room after a severe cross-check against Gudas. Gallagher threw away the gloves a little later in front of Montour.