A huge crowd of Canadiens' fans did little to help the Habs Sunday in Sunrise Florida, as the suddenly-resurgent Panthers won their team-record eighth victory for the month of December, two of them at the expense of the Canadiens.
Veteran rearguard Brian Campbell lead the Panthers with a goal and an assist to lead the Panthers to victory, as any serious hope of a Canadiens' comeback was wiped out when a goal by Daniel Briere was waved off, after a referee deemed that Habs' forward Alex Galchenyuk had interfered with Florida netminder Scott Clemmenson.
The goal, had it counted, would have brought the Canadiens to a 3-2 margin. Habs Coach Michel Therrien protested that Florida defenceman Marcel Goc had pushed Galchenyuk into the goaltender.
Canadiens' backup goaltender Peter Budaj stopped 21 of 24 shots as Dimitri Kulikov, Brian Campbell, Aleksander Barkov all managed to push pucks by him.
Sean Bergenheim iced the victory with an empty-netter with just 17 seconds remaining.
Brandon Prust scored the only goal for the Canadiens, as his low shot from a scrum in the slot managed to evade Clemmenson. Prust had his back to the Florida net when a shot from the point by Raphael Diaz hit him in the skates. Prust quickly pivoted and shot the puck past Clemmenson to square up the score, albeit only for a brief time. Diaz and Francis Bouillon were awarded assists on the goal, Prust's fourth.
The Canadiens and Panthers had both played one day earlier but the Panthers appeared to have the better jump, particularly in the second period, the frame which saw them notch two markers and outshoot the Habs 10-5.
Barkov, who was drafted second-overall in the 2013 NHL entry draft - behind only Nathan MacKinnon - impressed throughout.
The 6'3" Finn led the Panthers with four shots on goal and was initally credited with two goals, but his first was later credited to Campbell after video review. Barkov, 18, now has 18 points in 39 games.
Defenceman Tom Gilbert, 30, chipped in with assists on the Panthers' second and third goals. Gilbert who had previously spent six seasons in Edmonton and two in Minnesota, now has 13 points in 39 games in his first season in South Florida.
It was the second victory for the Panthers over the Habs this season, as the squad from South Florida also beat the Canadiens 2-1 at the Bell Centre on December 16. Coach Therrien blamed fatigue for that first loss.
Alexei Emelin was benched for the first half of the third period after being on the ice for three goals against, while Andrei Markov also had a difficult afternoon, going minus four in the game.
In spite of trailing through much of the game, the sell-out crowd of 19,891 lustily made their support heard for the visiting Canadiens and filled the arena with loud chants of "Go Habs Go" several times.
They loudly voiced their disapproval of the referee's decision to disallow not only the Briere marker but also a Rene Bourque goal, which was disallowed with 6:34 remaining in the first period, due to Brian Gionta's high stick contacting the puck earlier in the sequence.
Those fans did not, however, get a chance to see former Canadien Scott Gomez, who was not dressed for the game. Gomez, who had a difficult three years in Montreal, has 5 points in 21 games for the Panthers this season.
The Panthers improved their record to 15-20-5 with the victory and have now won seven of their last 11 games and now sit five points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Canadiens entered the game with the league's eighth-best on the man advantage but went blank on four full powerplays. A fifth was nullified 12 seconds in when Rene Bourque was penalized for goaltender interference.
The Canadiens (23-14-3) fell to 1-1 on the four game road swing after edging Tampa Bay 2-1 Saturday night. They next play Tuesday in Carolina against the Hurricanes and then head to Dallas to face the Stars.
