5 TAKEAWAYS: Panthers wrap up season, turn attention to playoffs

Gearing up for the postseason, the Panthers opted to rest the majority of their top players during an 10-2 loss to the Canadiens in the final game of their regular season at Bell Centre on Friday.
"Get some rest, kind of enjoy the regular-season accomplishments and then get back to work," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. "We'll start a whole new thing on Sunday."

Racing out to an early lead, the Canadiens went up 1-0 just 1:57 into the first period when Jordan Harris one-timed a shot past Jonas Johansson for the first goal of his NHL career.
Doubling the lead a few minutes later, Mike Hoffman tapped in a rebound to make it 2-0 at 4:18. Just 12 seconds after that, Cole Caufield touched twine to make it 3-0 at 4:30. Capping off the early scoring spree, Brendan Gallagher roofed a shot on the power play to make it 4-0 at 12:23.
Getting the Panthers on the board, Ben Chiarot, who was acquired from Montreal prior to the NHL's trade deadline in March, took a pass from Eetu Luostarinen and beat Carey Price with a shot in transition from the slot while on the power play to cut the deficit down to 4-1 at 18:23.
Continuing to fill up the back of the net in the second period, Cole Caufield scored again to put the Canadiens up 5-1 at 1:33. Soon after, Mathieu Perreault and Jake Evans buried shots of their own at 3:55 and 6:08, respectively, to make it 7-1. At 13:21, Christian Dvorak made it 8-1.
At 8:12 of the third period, Caufield completed his first-career hat trick to make it 9-1. Putting Montreal into double digits, Tyler Pitlick's first goal of the season then made it 10-1 at 9:51.
With 5:05 left in regulation, Noel Acciari scored to trim Florida's deficit to 10-2.
Heading back to South Florida, the Panthers will enjoy a day off on Saturday to reset and recharge before preparing to face the Capitals in the first round of the playoffs next week.
After capturing their first-ever President's Trophy and setting a franchise record for wins in a season with a record of 57-18-6, they now need 16 more wins to hoist hockey's ultimate prize.
The fun is just beginning.
"We've been prepared for anybody and everybody," Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg said. "We know it's obviously not going to be easy. We're going to have to go through the best teams in the league. We're worried about ourselves and worried about playing our best hockey."
Here are five takeaways from Friday's regular-season finale in Montreal…

1. CHIAROT SCORES

It's always fun to score a goal against your former team.
Picked up in a trade with the Canadiens prior to the trade deadline back in March, Chiarot scored the first goal for the Cats when he cashed in on the power play in the first period.

Adding an assist on Acciari's goal in the third period, Chiarot finished with a team-high two points in tonight's tilt. In 20 games with the Panthers, the big-bodied blueliner has notched eight points (two goals, six assists) to increase his season point total to 26 (nine goals, 17 assists).
Prior to puck drop, he received a warm reception from the crowd.

2. MILESTONE PUCKS

A pair of Panthers hit nice round numbers in terms of games played tonight.
By taking the ice in Montreal, Lomberg (100 games) and Robert Hagg (300 games) each pocketed a taped-up ceremonial puck to commemorate their respective career milestones.
"It's tough to put into words, for sure," Lomberg said. "For a while, 100 games seemed impossible. To be here now, to have the support of my teammates, my family and all that, it means the world."
In his second season with the Panthers, Lomberg reached career-highs in goals (9), assists (9) and points (18) in 55 games.
As for Hagg, the tough-as-nails defenseman has tallied an assist and 41 hits in the 16 games he suited up in after coming over from the Flyers at the trade deadline.
Cracking the scoresheet, Lomberg assisted on Acciari's goal in the third period.

3. RESTING UP

This game was almost as much about the players that didn't play as the ones that did.
Wisely wanting to stay healthy heading into the playoffs, the Panthers not only took the ice without eight of their top-10 scorers, but also kept their top-two goaltenders on the sidelines.
Among the players scratched were Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Mason Marchment and MacKenzie Weegar. Additionally, Anton Lundell and Gustav Forsling both suited up for the Panthers, but did not take a single shift in Montreal.
The perks of being first!

4. PLAYOFF TIME

In a battle between old Southeast Division foes, the Panthers now know that they'll begin their postseason journey with an opening-round series against the Capitals sometime next week.
Facing off three times this season, the Panthers posted a 2-1-0 record against the Capitals. After winning 5-4 in overtime at home on Nov. 4, they lost 4-3 the following game at Washington on Nov. 26 and then rebounded with a 5-4 victory back in Sunrise a few days later on Nov. 30.
Finishing with a record of 44-26-12 to claim the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals closed out the regular season on a four-game losing streak. During that skid, they were outscored 16-7, including taking a 3-2 loss to the Rangers in their finale in the Big Apple tonight.
"We weren't watching the standings and all that stuff to see who we were going to matchup against," Lomberg said. "It's more so getting our game in the right place so we can hit the ground running no matter who we're playing."
In the coming days, stay tuned for a full preview of this big match up at FloridaPanthers.com.

5. ONE LAST LOOK

Before we fully turn the page to the playoffs, let's take a moment to soak in the last 82 games.
Winning their first Presidents' Trophy, the Panthers were nothing short of spectacular during the regular season as they set new franchise records for both wins (58) and points (122). In terms of NHL history, they stand as just seventh team to win at least 58 games in a single campaign.
Picking up points no matter where they were playing, the Panthers set franchise records for wins both at home (34) and on the road (24). A big part of that sustained success was due to the club's otherworldly NHL-leading offense, which accumulated a franchise record 335 goals.
Fueled by a franchise-record 115 points from Huberdeau, 13 other Panthers also set new career-highs in points, including Reinhart (82), Anthony Duclair (58) and Aaron Ekblad (57). In net, Sergei Bobrovsky finished tied for first in the NHL with a franchise-record 39 wins.
Due to their record, the Panthers will have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.