RECAP: Canadiens 5, Panthers 3

MONTREAL – The injury bug keeps on biting.

Already missing several key players, the Florida Panthers lost top-pair defenseman Aaron Ekblad to an injury early in a 5-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

With guys seemingly going down left and right these days, Matthew Tkachuk (illness), Jonah Gadjovich (undisclosed) and Carter Verhaeghe (upper body) also sat out. Verhaeghe, who’s scored 33 goals this season, is expected to be out until potentially Game 1 of the playoffs.

At this point, all the Panthers can do is roll with the punches.

“We’re going to lose guys,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “I told you that two weeks ago. We’re going to lose bodies. We’re going to get guys sick, get guys injured. It’s just a function of the schedule. It’s going to be a grinder. … We’ve got a good chunk of adversity right now and part of it will be the panic that will set in outside the room.”

Breaking the ice in enemy territory, Anton Lundell beat Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault with a crafty short-side shot to give the Panthers an early 1-0 lead at 9:16 of the first period.

But less than a minute late, Joel Armia made it 1-1 for the Canadiens at 10:12.

After coming together against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, the line of Aleksander Barkov, Vladimir Tarasenko and Sam Reinhart picked up right where it left off in Montreal.

Despite the captain being surrounded by three Canadiens skaters, Tarasenko threaded a pass right onto the stick of Barkov, who then skated in on Montembeault and faked to his forehand before depositing a backhand goal while falling to the ice to make it 2-1 at 13:13.

Over the last two games, Tarasenko has logged four points (one goal, three assists).

“I thought we came out pretty good,” Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “I thought we had some bad breaks in the second that kind of cost us some goals. … We came out a little slow in the third and they scored right away. That took away momentum.”

Following two quick penalties by the Panthers late in the period, but Canadiens earned 58 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play. Standing tall, the Panthers successfully killed off the first penalty before the intermission and then took care of the other early in the second period.

After a tussle with Juraj Slafkovsky near the end of the first, Ekblad left and did not return.

Maurice said the team would know more about the injury on Wednesday.

The Canadiens briefly thought they tied the game when Brendan Gallagher tried to jam a puck through Anthony Stolarz’s pads during a battle outside the crease. Following a long review, officials first deemed it a “good goal,” but then quickly corrected it to “no goal.”

Later in the period, the Canadiens pulled even when Nick Suzuki took advantage of a turnover by the Panthers and ripped a shot past Stolarz from the slot to make it 2-2 at 5:58. Netting another goal, Suzuki struck on the power play to put Montreal up 3-2 at 12:24.

Just 33 seconds into the third period, Cole Caufield extended Montreal’s advantage to 4-2 when he flew around the net and tucked in a wrap-around goal. Not taking their foot off the gas, Jake Evans padded the lead to 5-2 for the Canadiens with a shorthanded goal at 4:34.

“I think we gave too many chances to them to score,” Barkov said. “They’re a high-skilled team, fast team. They got what they wanted. They scored the goals. We just couldn’t keep the puck out of the net. We obviously need to be better than that.”

With the game out of reach and things getting heated late in regulation, Brandon Montour and Nick Cousins both received misconducts and got tossed after a scuffle with a few Canadiens along the boards, including Brendan Gallagher, who also received a misconduct.

As the penalties continued to pile up, the Panthers killed off two extended 5-on-3 power plays for the Canadiens. Not going down without a fight, Sam Bennett, touching twine for the second straight game, scored to cut the deficit to 5-3 at 18:44.

Despite this current slump, the Panthers certainly aren’t getting caught up in it.

It’s all about getting ready for when the games start to matter in a few weeks.

“I’m not concerned,” Maurice said confidently. “We understand where we’re at and why we’re at. I know why we’re playing the way we’re playing.”

THEY SAID IT

“I think they were a little quicker than we were as the game went on. I liked our first. I like the way we played, the way we moved the puck. We served up that second goal, and it hurts us a little bit more right now. That was all.” – Paul Maurice

“I don’t want to say these moments happen in the season, but they do. The best teams cut them really short. You don’t want to lose that many games in the last 10. There’s only one way [out]. Altogether, just work as hard as possible, get out of the slump and start having fun again. That’s the main thing. Hockey needs to be fun.” – Aleksander Barkov

“I think bottom line is just stay positive and get the work boots on.” – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

CATS STATS

- Anton Lundell has recorded his third straight 30-point season.

- Aleksander Barkov has scored 25 goals in 35 career games vs. Montreal.

- Gustav Forsling dished out a team-high three hits.

- Niko Mikkola blocked a team-high four shots.

- The Panthers recorded 21 shots on goal in the third period.

- The Panthers won 63.6% of their faceoffs.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will look to break out of their slump and get back on track when they close out the Canadian portion of their road trip with a matchup against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.