Florida, Montreal lacking strong offence
PANTHERS VS. CANADIENS
Saturday at the Bell Centre, 7 p.m., CITY, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690
Parity special: The Canadiens are all but assured of a playoff spot, while the Panthers are scratching and clawing in an attempt to catch Ottawa and Boston for one of the wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference. But the first three games between the Canadiens and Panthers have all been decided by one goal, with two of the games going to a shootout and the visiting team has won each game. The Canadiens were 2-1 shootout winners on Dec. 30 in Sunrise, Fla., and won 3-2 in their most recent meeting on St. Patrick’s Day in the Sunshine State. The Panthers won 3-2 in a shootout at the Bell Centre on Feb. 19. The Canadiens need to be focused on this game and not be looking ahead to Monday’s home game against their Atlantic Division nemesis, the Tampa Bay Lightning. What have you done lately?: The Canadiens, who had Friday off, are coming off two road losses in Nashville and Winnipeg and are 5-3-2 in the last 10 games. The Panthers beat Toronto 4-1 Thursday to run
their record to 6-3-1 in the last 10 games. Neither team boasts a potent offence. The Canadiens rank 23rd in the NHL in goals per game (2.55), while Florida is 25th (2.38). The Canadiens’ power play, which went 0-for-4 in Winnipeg on Thursday, is ranked 26th with a success rate of 15.6 per cent. Florida is two notches lower at 14.9. Gallagher on a roll: Brendan Gallagher scored his 23rd goal of the season Thursday in Winnipeg and has goals in each of the last four games. Max Pacioretty has a goal and three assists in the last six games and leads the Canadiens in goals (35) and points (64). Quebecer Jonathan Huberdeau leads
the Panthers with 45 points. Nick Bjugstad is Florida’s leading goalscorer (24) but he’s listed as dayto-day with a lower-body injury. Brandon Pirri scored against Toronto for his 20th goal in 41 games, but he has only two assists. Goalies lead the way: Both teams rely heavily on their goaltending because of their offensive shortcomings. Carey Price, who was given a night off in Winnipeg Thursday, will be back between the pipes for the Canadiens. He leads the NHL in every major goaltending category. The Panthers’ goaltender is Montreal native Roberto Luongo. His numbers aren’t as good as Price’s, but Luongo has been solid in his return
to Florida. Luongo missed the last game against the Canadiens with an injury, but he has led the Panthers’ playoff push with wins in five of his last six starts. Luongo led Team Canada to Olympic gold at the 2010 Games in Vancouver and collected another gold medal last year as Price’s backup in Sochi. Change coming?: Tom Gilbert has missed the past two games after he was struck in the jaw by a puck last Saturday against San Jose. If ready, he’ll be back in the lineup, replacing Greg Pateryn or Alexei Emelin. Pateryn had problems dealing with the Winnipeg forecheck Thursday night and was a minus-2, while Emelin was minus-4.