HABS’ OFFENCE A NO-SHOW

Fall 2-0 to Panthers at Bell Centre

PANTHERS 2, CANADIENS 0

The bottom line: The Canadiens wasted another solid performance from goaltender Antti Niemi as the Florida Panthers posted a 2-0 victory Monday night at the Bell Centre. Niemi stopped 38 of 40 shots, but Montreal native Roberto Luongo made 28 saves for his third shutout of the season and the 76th of his career. The Canadiens have now been shut out a team-record 12 times this season. This was a must-win game for the Panthers, who moved three points back of idle New Jersey in the battle for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers have two games in hand.

Ekblad opens scoring: Florida defenceman Aaron Ekblad opened the scoring when he threaded his way though the Montreal defence and beat Niemi for his 15th goal of the season at 18:31 of the first period. The Canadiens thought they had a tying goal 17 seconds later, when Artturi Lehkonen circled behind the Panthers’ net and found Jacob de la Rose alone in front. Florida coach Bob Boughner challenged the goal and it was wiped out when the video review showed that Alex Galchenyuk was offside on the play. Niemi comes up big: The Panthers had only one shot in the first 9:30 of the game, but it was a Grade A scoring chance. Evgenii Dadonov was on a clean breakaway four minutes into the game, but Niemi made the stop as the Florida forward tried to find the five-hole. Niemi had the hockey gods on his side in the early going, as Dadonov and Jonathan Huderdeau hit posts.

Caught out of position: There was no scoring in the second period, but the Panthers had a golden opportunity after killing off a penalty midway through the period. Niemi tried to steer a rebound to the side boards, but he was out of the crease when Vincent Trochek picked off the pass. Trochek fired a shot at the empty net, but it hit the post.

Bank shot in the net: Aleksander Barkov effectively put the game away when he scored his 26th goal of the season at 6:23 of the third period to give Florida a 2-0 lead. Barkov’s shot went in off Canadiens forward Logan Shaw.

Price back in uniform: Carey Price, who hasn’t played since he suffered a concussion on Feb. 20 in Philadelphia, is close to returning. He dressed Monday as Niemi’s backup and Charlie Lindgren was returned to the Laval Rocket.

Fight night in Montreal: Two fights in the first period produced 34 minutes worth of penalties. Nicolas Deslauriers took offence to Ekblad elbowing Charles Hudon and he got the better of a fight with Ekblad, although he was hit with a fighting major, a two-minute instigator penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. Ekblad received a fighting major and two minutes for elbowing. A couple of minutes later, Michael McCarron and Alexander Petrovic traded punches. The scrap ended with McCarron bouncing Petrovic’s head off the glass a few times.

Back on the road: The Habs, who have the worst road record in the NHL, head to Pittsburgh Wednesday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN-690 Radio) and play the Sabres in Buffalo Friday before returning Saturday to face the Capitals.