Montreal Canadiens drop to bottom of Eastern Conference after 4-2 loss against Florida Panthers - NHL Update
Montreal Canadiens’ horror season continues with no light at the end of what is a very dark tunnel with another big loss on Sunday, February 26th, 2012, this time to Florida Panthers at the BankAtlantic Center by a 4-2 margin.
This was the Canadiens fourth straight loss and embarrassingly for the National Hockey League (NHL) aristocrats, they now drop down to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with just 58 points.
The Habs have lost six of their last seven games with a challenge for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference looking well out of their reach.
The Canadiens are ten points behind eighth spot and coach Randy Cunneyworth looked disappointed with the team’s efforts.
"This losing streak is not easy on anybody. The one thing you have to do is have a little pride and you have to keep working hard."
Florida’s victory takes them to third in the Eastern Conference with 70 points and the Panthers showed amazing fighting spirit to spark a comeback after going down by two goals early in the first period.
Their fight back was also helped in part by the Canadiens failure to mount a single meaningful offence in the final two periods.
The Panthers outshot the Habs 32-20, with Stephen Weiss’ brace leading the way for Florida.
Florida coach Kevin Dineen, however, credited Montreal for putting up a fight and was happy with his team’s comeback performance.
Speaking to the media after the game he said.
"They came at us in waves early. Give Montreal credit, they played an extremely hard game. We had an answer for it tonight, which was nice."
Montreal started brightly as they took a two-goal lead in the first six minutes of the first period.
David Desharnais broke the deadlock at 4:27 to put the Habs up by a goal and just two minutes later P.K Subban scored on a power play to make it 2-0 as Desharnais provided the assist.
The Panthers though did not look too fazed by the start to the game and continued to probe for an opening.
They got it soon enough. At 11:36 forward Stephen Weiss made it 2-1 beating Canadiens goaltender Peter Budaj with a wonderful shot after controlling Keaton Ellerby’s pass.
The second period belonged completely to Florida as they looked for an equaliser.
It took them just one minute to find it.
Sean Bergenheim broke on the power play at 1:09 and made no mistake to put the Panthers back on level pegging.
Three minutes later, Florida took the lead with Weiss scoring his second of the night as he capped a special day with a brilliant performance.
Weiss broke the Panthers record for most games played as he put on the same jersey for a record 614th time in this game.
Speaking after the game he said.
"It's awesome for them [Weiss’ family] to be here. It means a lot to me and them. It's nice to get that win and a couple goals for them."
Up 3-2 and with the Canadiens looking lethargic and uninterested, Panthers pounced in the third period as Brian Campbell scored for their fourth and final goal to put the game beyond all doubt.
The Habs will look to end their disappointing run on Tuesday, when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning on the road while Florida will face the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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