Panthers

Not a convincing win, but it was a vitally important W – one of the biggest of the season.

Imagine the nightmare scenario if the Canadiens had gone 0-for-Florda to stretch their losing streak to a season-high four games.

Montreal's hockey fans would be in an uproar. The talk shows would bristle with urgent trade speculation.

The players would be booed at their annual blood drive today. The pressure to win at the Bell Centre on Saturday would be enormous, and quite possibly more than a young team could handle.

Christopher Higgins saved the bacon last night. Pouncing on a loose puck that Tomas Vokoun misplayed, Higgins gave Canadiens a chance to salvage a point.

Alex Kovalev, who had an off-game by his standards, secured the win – and two very valuable points – with that seeing-eye shot in OT.

But the Man of the Match, beyond question, was Carey Price. This was the goaltender we saw during those early-season road wins in Pittsburgh and Toronto: calm, cool, utterly confident.

Price made 35 saves last night and is a lead-pipe cinch to draw the start against Philadelphia on Saturday. And if he beats the Flyers ... well, we've got ourselves a good old-fashioned goaltending controversy. 

Alex Kovalev fires a laser to the glove-side of red-hot Tomas Vokoun on the power-play in OT to give Canadiens an unlikely 2-1 win.

Christopher Higgins had tied the game in the third period.

Carey Price made 35 saves, and the rookie is a good bet to draw the start against the Flyers at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.

Canadiens HAD to win this game to avoid going 0-for-Florida – and to stem a full-scale panic back home in the city of snow.

Richard Zednik's condition continues to improve after undergoing life-saving surgery at Buffalo General Hospital. Yesterday, Zednik was upgraded from stable to good condition and has been moved from the intensive care unit to a private room.

I don't know how many delusional out-patients living on the street in Montreal you'd have to poll before you found one who would have predicted the Canadiens' two wins in Florida.

After the Dallas debacle?

C'mon. Pull the other one – it's got bells on it.

Well, ring-a-ding and rack up two Ws. What does this portend for the second half of the season?

I'll attempt an answer – with this caveat:

Like many Montreal hockey fans, I tend toward snap judgements. Regular readers know that at various times since the beginning of the season, I've been ready to fire Guy Carbonneau, bench Cristobal Huet, trade Michael Ryder and erect a statue of Josh Gorges in front of the Bell  Centre.

So take this latest assessment with a fair-sized chunk of salt:

Canadiens are primed for a very good stretch run. 

Canadiens' Michael Ryder celebrates his fourth goal of the season, crowded by Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun and defenceman Ruslan Salei.
Hans Deryk, Reuters

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To paraphrase the legendary Montreal-native poet and singer Leonard Cohen: First we take Florida, then we take Manhattan.

The Canadiens completed a two-night, two-game sweep of the Sunshine State tonight, routing the Florida Panthers 5-1 after having beaten the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Thursday.

Now, it's on to New York, where the Habs will take on the Rangers Sunday at Madison Square Garden for the final match of their six-game road trip, with the hope of running their post-Christmas winning streak to three.

Canadiens score 10 goals on their Florida swing and sweep the Lightning and Panthers.

Ten names on the scoresheet both nights.

And that doesn't include Cristobal Huet, who made 40 saves in a game the Canadiens led 3-0 after five minutes.

Canadiens have taken seven of a possible 10 ponts on what is traditionally a tortuous holiday road trip.

How hot is this team?

Michael Ryder scored a goal.

That's hot. 

Don't be fooled by the final score.

That was a 3-0 game. And if Florida had more snipers, it would have been 6-0.

Hey, maybe the Panthers need a trigger man. Let's trade them Michael Ryder for Olli Jokinen.

I'm only jokin'. But the day of reckoning for poor Ryder draws nigh. He played another nothing game last night: nine minutes, zero shots, one shot attempt. He did, however, have three hits and was on the ice for Andrei Markov'ssecond goal, which made the final score totally misleading.

Have you heard of the "non-compete clause". It's a feature of business contracts. If I sell you my sushi restaurant, I agree not to open anoher one across the street.

I think the Canadiens signed a non-compete clause with the Panthers last night: if you skate and play aggressive, hard-nosed hockey, we agree to dick around disinterestedly for 58 minutes.

Gazette coverage of last night's 3-2, what-was-that? loss by the Canadiens to the Florida Panthers, as the Habs lift anchor and depart today for a six-game road trip, beginning Thursday in Washington:

Red Fisher suggests the Canadiens were no match for the speedy Panthers; Pat Hickey reminds that the Panthers, out of the playoffs the past six seasons, always look like Stanley Cup contenders against the Habs; Hickey quotes head coach Guy Carbonneau saying, not for the first time, that rookie goalie Carey Price must be better; and Stephanie Myles visits the Panthers dressing room to find no goaltending controversy there, not with Tomas Vokoun suiting up.

Former Canadien Richard Zednik leaps to screen Habs goalie Carey Price during Florida's 3-2 Bell Centre victory tonight.
André Ringuette, NHLI via Getty Images

Lineups | Preview | Game Story | Game Summary | Event Summary | Boxscore | Boone's Blog

Updated by Kevin Mio

In their last game at home before Christmas, the Canadiens gave their fans a lump of coal as a gift. After two solid games against the Flyers and Maple Leafs, the Habs came out flat against the Florida Panthers in a 3-2 loss tonight. The Canadiens mustered only three shots on Tomas Vokoun in the first period and only nine in the second.

Florida opened the scoring when Jozef Stumpel had a wide open net on a 2-on-1 break 14 minutes into the first period. The Panthers can thank Canadiens goalie Carey Price for the second goal after Price misplayed the puck and gave it right to Brett McLean, who scored possibly one of the easiest goals of his career.

The Panthers grabbed a 3-0 lead early in the third period on Stephen Weiss’s blistering shot on another odd-man rush. Andrei Markov got a pair back for the Canadiens in the
final period, but it was too little, too late for a team that was unable to win the battles along the boards and maintain control of the puck long enough to sustain any pressure in the Panthers zone.

Florida also won in Montreal in October, 2-1 in a shootout.

The Canadiens now embark on a six-game road trip that begins on Thursday in Washington before heading to Atlanta on Saturday and Dallas on Sunday.

Good news: the Canadiens won't lose any more home games this year.

Florida took a 3-0 lead into the third period and withstood two goals by Andrei Markov and a late-game flurry to end 2007's home schedule on a sour note for Canadiens.

At least they didn't leave the ice with boos echoing off the rafters of the Bell Centre. With snow wreaking havoc in Montreal, many fans were gone by the time Markov scored his second, with 24 seconds remaining. Those who stayed saw Canadiens press for the equalizer, to no avail.

Christopher Higgins described the loss as a "weird game" with a lot of play in the neutral zone.

"The biggest thing," Higgins said, "is we weren't moving he puck deep. We weren't skating, and we didn't have any bite to our game. There was no sustained offensive pressure.

"A fast start is key for our team" Higgins added. "We didn't have the aggression we need in our game.

"If we're nnot taking the game to them, we play into their hands. They clog the neutral zone, they do a great job backchecking. We had to put pucks into the right spots on the ice."

Mike Komisarek lamented Canadiens' inconsistency.

"We take a couple steps forward," he said, "then we're back to square one."

The season, Komisarek said, is "a grind – 82 games and it's a challenge every night.

"There are no easy games, no easy shifts."

And no excuse, the big defenceman added "for playing soft."