Florida 7, Montreal 2. Power play got some good news though.
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SUNRISE, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov had a natural hat trick in the first period to propel the Florida Panthers to a 7-2 victory over the Canadiens Thursday at FLA Live Arena.
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It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Canadiens while the Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak.
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Barkov, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with a knee injury, was credited wth the game’s opening goal at 2:37 of the first period although his only contribution to the goal was being in the right place at the right time. He was battling for position in front of Montembeault when Gustav Forsling’s shot from the point hit his skate and deflected into the net.
Barkov was more involved on his second goal, which once again highlighted the failings of the Montreal penalty-kill. One minute after Joel Armia went off for high-sticking Matthew Tkachuk, Barkov found an opening through Montembeault’s pads with a shot from the left faceoff circle.
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Barkov completed the hat trick at 14:15 when he picked up a loose puck in front of the net and beat Montembeault with a backhander.
The Canadiens did show some life on the power play, which ranks dead-last in the NHL. The Canadiens didn’t score on their first power play but it was close. Radko Gudas was stepping out of the box when rookie defenceman Arber Xhekaj beat Sergei Bobrovsky wth a slap shot from the blue line. It was the fifth goal of the season for Xhekaj.
Montreal did score a power-play goal before the first period was over.
The Canadiens had a four-minute power play after Eetu Luostarinen high-sticked Brendan Gallagher, and they cut the Florida lead to 3-2 when Josh Anderson scored on the rebound of a shot by Mike Hoffman. Xhekaj and Hoffman each picked up his second assist on the goal.
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But the Canadiens shot themselves in the foot early in the second period when they took a penalty for having too many men on the ice and Tkachuk responded with a second power-play goal.
Carter Verhaeghe effectively put the game out of reach early in the third period when he slipped between defencemen Kaiden Guhle and Joel Edmundson to give Florida a 5-2 lead. But the Panthers weren’t finished. Tkachuk added a third power-play goal — the 14th power-play goal the Canadiens have surrendered in their last 10 games — and Luostarinen completed the scoring.
Coach Martin St. Louis welcomed Gallagher back to the lineup after he had been sidelined since Nov. 29 with a lower-body injury. Evgeny Dadonov, who started his NHL career with the Panthers, was back after two games as a healthy scratch. Michael Pezzetta and Anthony Richard were scratched to make room for the changes.
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Chris Wideman was also a healthy scratch as St. Louis used five rookie defencemen for a second consecutive game.
The Canadiens’ post-Christmas road trip continues with a late afternoon game in Washington on New Year’s Eve (4 p.m., SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) and concludes on Jan. 3 in Nashville.
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