Call of the Wilde: Montreal Canadiens dominated by Florida Panthers 5-2

The Florida Panthers still have a chance to make the playoffs this season, but the Montreal Canadiens have extra incentive to not want that. Montreal owns Florida’s first round pick. The Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins are neck-and-neck for the final spot in the East.

The Panthers claimed a dominating 5-2 win. However, their playoff chances did not improve as the Penguins beat Nashville.

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It was the first chance for fans at the Bell Centre to see Sean Farrell. It was his first game at home, and did it ever start perfectly. The first shift of the game for Farrell, he took a shot from a bad angle that Alex Lyon mishandled by leaving the near post.

It was the first registered shot for Farrell in his career in his second game. Only 83 seconds in and Jake Evans was leaping into Farrell’s arms. Farrell had scored in the NHL. He couldn’t contain his smile at the bench as they announced his name on the public address system.

What a feeling to reach a lifelong dream to get to the NHL, then hear your name called in front of over 21,000 fans.

Besides the goal, Farrell looked even more comfortable in this game than his first encounter in Philadelphia. Farrell looked to be comfortable with Evans and a surging Brendan Gallagher who has found his better self again after returning from injury.

That indicates that perhaps Gallagher was playing injured before he left the line-up, because he looks transformed. Gallagher has more energy, more skating speed, and his shot is significantly better with three goals in three straight games.

Read more: Montreal Canadiens’ road trip excitement stalls with 3-2 loss to Flyers (March 28, 2023)

Since Rafael Harvey-Pinard was called up from the Laval Rocket in mid-January, he is the top scorer among rookies in the entire NHL with 14. However, it isn’t just the goals that are impressing the Canadiens brass. Harvey-Pinard is playing strong defensive hockey committed to both sides of the puck.

Harvey-Pinard is blocking shots with reckless abandon, showing that just because he is small, that doesn’t mean he can’t find a way to get in front of shots. He also is implicated in the play so often that he cannot be ignored as a strong candidate next season to be on the roster.

In the second period, when the Canadiens mustered almost nothing, and did very little, Harvey-Pinard drew a penalty by being a pest in front of the net, and then had a terrific shot that was stopped by Lyon. He truly has been an impressive player, and it is feeling like he can continue a measure of this success.

In the third period, late, it was a Harvey-Pinard redirect on the Montreal power play. That’s 14 goals in 32 games. That is a pace of a very impressive 35 goal season.

The sample size is getting bigger and it’s not losing steam. Even with that said, it won’t be easy to crack the lineup next season. There are eight injured right now, and the prospects are coming. If the competition is fair, with skills as important as rich contracts, he should win a job in 2023-24.

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Congratulations to Matthew Tkachuk who hit the 100-point plateau for the second time in his career. He counted a hat trick, including a shot ripped into the top corner over the shoulder of Samuel Montembeault in the second period.

Tkachuk is trying to carry the Panthers on his shoulders this season. They are an enigmatic team oozing with talent and underachieving far too often. The Canadiens were the Panthers elixir on Thursday night as Montreal was overmatched.

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More motivation in the career of Lane Hutson came this afternoon when the Hobey Baker Award nominees were announced. No doubt Hutson has been doubted and written off a million times in his life, with his dream of becoming an NHL defenceman despite his small stature.

He got disrespected again by the selection committee for the NCAA top college hockey player award when one of the greatest seasons in history, if not the greatest for a draft plus-one defenceman, wasn’t enough to be one of the three finalists.

The modern day top draft plus one season for a defender that has been the go-to standard for 40 years was eclipsed this season by Hutson. That mark was Brian Leetch with 47 points in 37 games. Hutson this year has surprised that with 48 points in 38 games.

Still, the voters disregarded the assault on the record books and opted instead for three forwards. Doubly painful for Canadiens fans is one of the players that General Manager Kent Hughes passed up on Logan Cooley is one of the finalists.

Read more: Montreal Canadiens rout Columbus Blue Jackets (March 26, 2023)

Cooley was joined by Adam Fantilli who is expected to go second in the 2023 NHL draft behind only Connor Bedard. The third choice is the one that is mysterious and will lead to criticism as Matthew Knies was nominated.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ second rounder Knies was the third leading scorer on his own line, never mind a deserving candidate for the Hobey Baker Award. Knies had 41 points this season as a forward. That’s fewer than Hutson as a defender.

The committee makes its choices and does not answer to anyone for them. According to the NCAA website, the committee is comprised of 29 individuals who are scouts, coaches and media members. Why they saw Knies more deserving than Hutson will forever remain a mystery. Apparently, Hutson will have to break the 60 point mark next season to get some respect.

Hutson not getting any respect is not new. He went 62nd in the entry draft because of his size. Oddly, though, this vote isn’t about who might become the best NHL player. It was about who had the best season.

Good luck to the three nominees. They had excellent seasons. It’s just sad that this season will be remembered as the one where Hutson wasn’t even a finalist.

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.