Jan 8, 2026; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens left wing Alexandre Texier (85) celebrates with his teammates at the bench his goal against the Florida Panthers during the second period at Bell Centre. | Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Brad Marchand is out. Nagging injury? Xhekajitis? The Panthers weren’t forthcoming with the details.
First period
Florida has iced the puck three times in the opening three minutes.
The third one is the one that hurts them. Oliver Kapanen won the offensive-zone faceoff, Mike Matheson quickly sent it across to Noah Dobson, and the Prince Edward Islander blasted it off the post and into Sergei Bobrovsky’s net.
Noah Dobson with a bomb from the point and it’s 1-0 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 8:16 PM
Arber Xhekaj advances well up in the neutral zone looking to land a hit. You can hear the entire Panthers bench yelling at their teammate that his life is in danger.
Jayden Struble misplays the puck at the side of the net. For several weeks that would have been an automatic goal against, but Samuel Montembeault followed it, sealed his post, and froze the puck to limit the damage.
Slafkovský cross-checks Aaron Ekblad into the boards from behind. Fortunately he let up just before making contact to lessen the blow or that could have been his last play on this homestand. It’s a two-minute penalty instead.
The Panthers don’t really have enough offensive players to take advantage, and that barely looked like a power play for them.
Cole Caufield gets cross-checked in the back by Uvis Balinskis before he plays the puck at centre ice. Expect this power play to look a lot more dangerous.
Okay, well the passing will be better anyway. Montreal didn’t create anything anymore dangerous that the Panthers.
I don’t know how you defend a double head-fake from Lane Hutson. You can guess that he’s going to do one and stick with him through it, but the second just introduces too many possibilities.
It feels like the Canadiens could just put the hammer down and score three or four goals here.
Slafkovský gets into a battle with two Panthers players and has his stick tied up, so he kicks the puck out to the front of the net instead. Bobrovsky is able to bat the puck away, but Kapanen still manages to get his stick on it and bat it back into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Montreal is immediately called for a penalty. It was interference. We’ll see how much of that Florida is allowed to get away with.
Montembeault looked solid to stop a couple of shots on the penalty kill. The Canadiens will take a two-goal lead into the intermission, taking advantage of outplaying their opponent.
Second period
The Panthers got a couple of chances from giveaways by the defence, but Montembeault is looking calm in the crease tonight.
Suzuki tries to go on a rush down the ice, but has his stick held right in the middle of the ice. All 21,000 members of the crowd saw it, but the two officials didn’t. It would be rude to give a penalty to a team trailing by a couple of goals I guess.
Montembeault goes behind his net and plays the puck directly on the stick of Sam Bennett. It’s 2-1.
At least the goal got Montreal to play again. They hadn’t been doing much in the second period.
Now Florida is icing the puck again.
And getting away with multiple penalties.
The Panthers have raised their level in this period and the Canadiens haven’t matched it. Shots are 9-0 for Florida.
Shots are 9-1 Florida. It’s 3-1 Montreal. Alexandre Texier is enjoying this homestand. Especially when he receives a perfect pass like the one Alexandre Carrier could right on his blade.
You cannot stop Alexandre Texier!
3-1 Hasb!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 9:30 PM
The wave has returned. It went straight to Lane Hutson’s legs as he just skated about a kilometre along the blue line in the offensive zone to really amp up the crowd.
If it helps the Canadiens remember how well they can play, maybe it’s not a bad thing.
Texier throws a big hit in the offensive zone, and for his trouble takes a vicious pitchfork in the face from Anton Lundell. Montreal will have four minutes to make the Panthers pay for that transgression.
I wish the Habs could have taken advantage of that power play to score a fourth goal and make things easier in the third period, but they never really got set up the way they wanted to. The game is far from over with 20 minutes to play.
Third period
A very uninspiring final minute of the power play is quite discouraging to see from Montreal. There’s no reason to stop playing.
Phillip Danault is immediately sent to the box for Niko Mikkola’s stick hitting a Lundell. A bit of karma for Lundell, but it still drew his team a power play
The refs saw the replay and know they messed up, but they can only review a high stick if it was deemed to be a double minor.
Blais catches Bobrovsky up high with his stick, and is then tackled by Donovan Sebrango. Both skaters will head to the box.
Hutson loses his footing on one of his cut-backs along the wall. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen that.
Texier tries to be a nice guy and send the puck across to Caufield on a two-on-one, but the puck refuses to leave his stick this week, and it comes right back to him so he can score his second goal of the game.
Liberté, égalité, Texier
4-1 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 10:16 PM
France might just win Olympic gold if this form continues for another six weeks.
The crowd goes into a “Monty!” chant as he makes a big save on a three-on-one. He has looked sharp when the puck is on anyone else’s stick but his.
Zachary Bolduc has his stick broken by Bennett. This power play is less important than the last one, but five goals would be nice, too.
Texier blasts a shot off the shoulder of Bobrovsky and out, coming that close to a third goal of the game.
With the power play over, the Panthers get a shot on Montembeault, and the rebound falls off his arm and right to Bennett to make it 4-2.
A.J. Greer drives Carrier’s head into the glass in Montreal’s zone. But since the Panthers are trailing, they won’t call such a trivial thing.
Slafkovský’s stick is slashed on a breakaway with the empty net, and he will be awarded a goal.
The power play can only dream of scoring without taking a shot.
Xhekaj hits Jack Studnicka, who crashes into Owen Beck, and then Xhekaj gets jumped by Donovan Sebrango, The refs interpret the play as roughing by Xhekaj, a charge by Beck, and a minor for Sebrango. They may actually be blind.
You know who isn’t blind? Texier. He completed the hat trick by hitting a single into the Panthers’ net.
Joe Veleno with the incredible moves, and Texier hits it out of the park for his third goal of the night
Call that man Robespierre, because he is just KILLING teams
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 10:46 PM
The Canadiens have beaten the Panthers at hockey, soccer, and baseball tonight.
Add another tick in the win column as the Habs now go on to a marquee battle with Detroit on Saturday.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Gary Bettman just really likes spending his springs in Florida
2) And the Blues saw no use in him
1) Always here for the Leafs catching a stray
