Bah, humbug.
The Florida Panthers came out of the NHL’s annual holiday break for a nice little early afternoon matchup with the Montreal Canadiens.
Unfortunately for the home team, the game did not go their way.
Instead, it was rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes stealing the show in his first NHL start, showing off his quick and concise literal movement while displaying excellent rebound control.
He made 33 saves while earning the victory for Montreal, and based off his play, he’ll see some more time between the pipes moving forward for the Habs.
Florida goaltender Spencer Knight’s first big save of the game came late in the opening period with the Canadiens on the power play.
Nick Suzuki came flying into Florida’s zone and all alone on Knight, who stood tall and made a nice blocker save on Suzuki’s backhand attempt.
Knight made another great save with about 90 seconds left in the period on a doorstep deflection by Christian Dvorak, then a second kick save on the rebound.
It wasn’t long after the start of the second period that Montreal finally broke through.
A cross-zone feed from Alex Newhook found a wide-open Kirby Dach at the back post, beating a sliding Knight at the 1:39 mark.
Dach’s second of the game came off a failed Florida zone entry. The puck was turned over just inside Montreal’s blue line, leading to Newhook finding Dach behind the Panthers defense.
He went in all alone on Knight, beating him with a blocker side backhand to give the Habs a 2-0 lead.
Florida’s first power play of the game arrived late in the middle frame after Dvorak was called for hooking, but a neutral zone giveaway by Sam Reinhart led to a shorthanded goal by Jake Evans.
All alone in the right circle, Evans wired a wrist shot over Knight’s blocker from just in front of the faceoff dot, a shot Knight would probably want to have back.
Cole Caufield’s 18th goal of the season put the game away for Montreal with about six minutes left in the third period.
Caufield got behind Florida’s defense, speeding by Aaron Ekblad and taking a pass from Juraj Slafkovsky and quickly popping the puck over Knight’s glove.
On to the Rangers.
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