Paul Maurice had paid a $25,000 bill earlier that day. He was fined for his referee comments following Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
• Also read: Canadians: “We shot ourselves in the foot” -Joel Edmundson
• Also read: A frustrating evening
• Also read: Panthers: Paul Maurice focuses on the present
Florida Panthers head coach Maurice didn’t have to pull out his checkbook again. But there are probably times in this game when Martin St-Louis intended to emulate his counterpart.
In a turbulent game yesterday at the Bell Center, the Canadian lost 6-2 to the Panthers.
The Canadian did not lose this meeting thanks to the work of Ghislain Hébert and Jake Brenk. It would be too easy to blame the striped men. The Panthers, on the other hand, hit the bull’s eye four times on the power play.
control
Hébert and Brenk spent the evening whistling penalties but never succeeded in their main task of maintaining control.
“As captain, I often spoke to the referees, there were discussions,” said Nick Suzuki. Sometimes I tried to understand what they were thinking. But we got stupid penalties. There are also penalties that were questionable. It’s a pity sometimes. »
“If you give up four goals when you’re down, you can’t expect to win the game,” continued Suzuki. It’s still our fault. »
There was a total of 90 penalty minutes in this game. The CH won in this department with 53 minutes compared to 37 for the guests.
quarrel lost
The Canadian lost an important bet in the second period. St. Louis challenged the Panthers’ first goal, that of Sam Reinhart. Number 13 jumped on a counterattack from Aleksander Barkov to thwart Samuel Montembeault.
In this piece, Matthew Tkachuk prevented Montembeault from moving freely to the right. Eventually, upon video playback, the referees maintained their original decision on the ice, which was to award the goal. According to the NHL statement, although there was contact between Tkachuk and the goaltender, this did not prevent the puck from going into the net.
“I thought the decision could go either way,” said Suzuki. Monty tried to dive to get back in play, but Tkachuk was there. We had to forget about this game.
The Canadian allowed the Panthers another goal during that penalty, which was awarded for a lost tackle.
For the fourth time this season, CH have conceded three or more goals against losing rivals. But it was the first time since March 1, 2022 that the Canadian had conceded four goals in numerical inferiority in the same encounter. The Jets won 8-4 that night in Winnipeg.
Prime in action
Montembeault allowed five goals, all five in the second period, on 33 shots. Number 35 gave way to Cayden Primeau at the start of the third period. It was the first time this season that St. Louis had unhooked the hook with its starting goaltender.
In his first few minutes this NHL season, Primeau gave up on six shots.
What we noticed…
THE “BOB” IN THE LOCKER ROOM
Sergei Bobrovsky did not stay up late. He didn’t even have time to block a shot. The Panthers’ number one goaltender injured himself early in the first half while making a lateral move to the left. Josh Anderson hit the post in that game. Bobrovsky stretched for a whistle but chose to resign. He probably suffered a groin injury. Alex Lyon replaced him in the first half with 2 min 1 s.
ERIC STAAL HAS INJURED HIMSELF
In his first game at Bell Center since the Canadians’ magical journey to the 2021 playoffs Eric Staal didn’t feel the same sensations. The eldest of the Staal brothers took a questionable check from Mike Matheson in the first half. The Panthers said he sustained an upper-body injury. In this particular case, it is certain that it was a concussion. Staal, 38, is back in the NHL after a season representing Canada at the Beijing Olympics and playing four games with the Iowa Wild in the American League.
RIFIED
There is not much rivalry between the Panthers and CH, although the two teams find themselves in the Atlantic Division for a few years. But there was animosity in that encounter. The Panthers harassed Matheson for scoring against Staal. Matthew Tkachuk avenged his teammate by engaging in a fight with the former Panthers defenseman. Arber Xhekaj also threw away the gloves and won his duel against Givani Smith. In a match ending worthy of another era, Michael Pezzetta also offered himself a little waltz by fighting Ryan Lomberg.
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Josh Anderson
Anderson scored his 13th goal of the season but mostly fired 6 shots at Alex Lyon. He had good play on the right wing with Mike Hoffman and Kirby Dach. They spent a lot of time in Panther territory
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Numerical inferiority
In eight cases, CH lost four goals with a man down. There were also times when the focus wasn’t there. At the end of the second period, CH received two penalties in a row for having too many players on the ice
First period
No goal
Penalties: Luostarinen (Flo) 2:01, Pitlick (Mon) 8:29, Cousins (Flo) 16:26, Edmundson (Mon) 18:51
second period
1-Flo: Sam Reinhart (14) (Barkov)AN-6:30
2-Flo: Sam Bennett (11) (Forsling, Lundell)AN-8:27
3-Flo: Matthew Tkachuk (23) (Reinhart, Montour)AN-14:58
4-Flo: Givani Smith (1) (Cousins, Gudas)16:03
5-Flo: Matthew Tkachuk (24) (Reinhart, Barkov)AN-19:17
Penalties: Dach (Mon) 4:34, Bench (Mon) (served by Caufield) 6:30, Smith (Flo) 11:37, Anderson (Mon) 13:17, Bench (Mon) (served by Ylonen) 16: 55, Bench (Mon) (served by Harris) 6:18 p.m., Forsling (Flo) 8:00 p.m., Xhekaj (Mon) 8:00 p.m., Smith (Flo) 8:00 p.m
third period
6-mon: Rem Pitlick (2) (Hoffman, Barron) 2:12
7-Mo: Josh Anderson (13) (Pitlick, Ylonen) 8:06
8-Flo: Ryan Lomberg (6) (Verhaeghe, Bennett) 9:11
Penalties: Savard (Mo) (inc&min) 5:13, Staal (Flo) 5:13, Matheson (Mo) (maj) 5:58, Tkachuk (Flo) (maj) 5:58, Bennett (Flo) 5:58 , Xhekaj (Mo) (maj) 12:46, Smith (Flo) (maj) 12:46, Pezzetta (Mo) (cleaned by Evgenii Dadonov) (min and maj) 14:09, Lomberg (Flo) (maj) 14 :09
Shoot the net
Florida 11-22-6-39 Montreal 9-7-9-25
Guardian:
Flo: Sergei Bobrovsky and Alex Lyon (2:01 in 1st period) (G, 1-0-0) Mo: Samuel Montembeault (P, 9-8-2) and Cayden Primeau (3rd period)
Numerical advantages:
Flo: 4 in 8, Mon: 0 in 4
Referee:
Jake Brenk, Ghislain Hebert
linesman:
Matt MacPherson, Scott Cherrey
HELP:
21 105