The Canadian treated himself to an offensive feast to conclude an execrable 2021-22 campaign.
Jordan Harris, Mike Hoffman and Cole Caufield scored on their first three shots on goal as the Montreal team defeated the Florida Panthers 10-2 Friday night at the Bell Centre.
The Panthers, winners of the Presidents’ Trophy as the best team in the NHL during the regular season, had given several team stars time off.
Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov and Claude Giroux were notably left out. Also, forward Anton Lundell and defenseman Gustav Forsling weren’t rushed to the rink even though they were in uniform.
Poor Jonas Johansson, third in the hierarchy of Panther goalkeepers, was sent to the slaughterhouse.
The Canadiens players therefore offered a light balm to the fans, in addition to setting off fireworks for the last career game of equipment manager Pierre Gervais after 35 years in the organization.
Caufield used the night to score a first career hat trick.
Brendan Gallagher, Christian Dvorak, Jake Evans and Mathieu Perreault each had a goal and an assist, while Tyler Pitlick also hit the target for the Canadiens (22-49-11), who had their worst campaign since 1939- 40.
Carey Price was back in goal two days after meeting the doctor in New York who operated on his knee this summer. He stopped 37 shots and recorded his first victory in five starts since returning to action on April 15.
Ben Chiarot and Noel Acciari offered the timid reply of the Panthers (58-18-6). Johansson made 27 saves.
The Canadian, who ends the campaign in 32nd and last place in the general classification of the NHL, will proceed to its end-of-season report on Saturday morning. General Manager Kent Hughes will be among the speakers.
The last will be first
The Canadian quickly took his way to go. Harris kicked things off with his first NHL goal 1:57 into the game. Hoffman pulled away at 4:18, then Caufield scored his first goal of the night just 12 seconds later.
Gallagher returned to the charge at 12:23, on the power play, following a cross pass from Perreault.
The Canadian’s lead could have been even bigger after 20 minutes, but Alexander Romanov reached the post, then Evans ran into Johansson moments later.
Chiarot gave the Panthers a glimmer of hope by closing the lead to 4-1 with 1:37 left in the first period, but Caufield got the ball rolling after 1:33 in the second period.
Perreault then scored from the face-off circle at 3:55. Evans and Dvorak also scored before the end of the second period, continuing to take advantage of the Panthers’ largesse to boost their stats.
Caufield completed his hat trick at 8:12 of the third period, then Pitlick scored his first goal of the season 1:39 later.
With a “10” on the board, onlookers began to celebrate, chanting “Guy! Guy! Guy!” in honor of Guy Lafleur, who passed away on April 22.
Acciari added the Panthers’ second goal with 5:05 left on the clock. It didn’t spoil the party in the Bell Centre.