2. The Habs’ three-game run wasn’t the only streak that ended on Saturday night. Juraj Slafkovsky’s nine-game point string, which began on March 9, also came to a close, with the forward putting up 10 points (2G, 8A) during that span. In fact, Slafkovsky’s run as a teenager came to an end on Saturday, too, as March 30 was the Slovak’s 20th birthday. Slafkovsky set a bunch of team records before turning 20: his nine-game point streak was the longest by a Canadiens teenager – beating his own record of eight games from earlier this season; his 41 points in 2023-24 are the most by a teenager in a Canadiens uniform in a single season; and his 51 total points are second-most all-time by a Canadiens teenager, behind Mario Tremblay.
3. The Canadiens practiced on Monday – this time at the Bell Centre, on the occasion of the team photo – and forward Christian Dvorak was skating in a regular practice jersey. In January, the team had announced that the American would miss the rest of the regular season recovering from surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle, but head coach Martin St-Louis told reporters after the skate that there’s a “good chance” Dvorak returns to action before the end of 2023-24. St-Louis did not announce any lineup changes for the Panthers game, however, so stay tuned for coverage from morning skate for any updates.
4. At the other end of the rink, the Panthers clinched a playoff spot on Thursday and are second in the Atlantic Division with 99 points. They're on the second game of a back-to-back after losing 6-4 to the Maple Leafs on Monday night in Toronto.
This is the fourth and final meeting between the two teams this season. The Panthers have won the first three, although Montreal picked up a point in a shootout loss in Florida on February 29.
Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe have been the top point-getters against Montreal this season with five apiece; Sam Reinhart is next in line with four.
5. Tuesday night is The Goal is Green Night presented by National Bank, where you can learn how the Canadiens have become leaders of green initiatives in the NHL during a night dedicated to a healthy planet.
Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. You can catch all the action on TSN2 or RDS on television, or on TSN 690 or 98,5 fm on the radio. For tickets to the game, click here.
