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Last Monday night was anything but an ordinary late December victory for the Montreal Canadiens against the Florida Panthers.
Coming into Sunrise Florida for this game, Montreal who are 4-0-1 in their last five games were led by checking forward Maxim Lapierre who scored a hat trick as the Canadiens won 5-2 for what was their 3,000 regular season win in franchise history.
“For a defensive player, for a guy that brings energy to the game, it’s always fun to contribute in other ways,” Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said about Lapierre who came into play with only four goals in 31 games. “At the start of the year, he was getting rid of the puck a little too much and he didn’t want to make mistakes.” “Now he’s playing with more confidence.”
On hand for this- milestone- win were plenty of Montreal fans who continuously chanted “Go Habs Go and chanted specifically for Canadiens goalie Carey Price who made 26 saves for the win.
“I thought the crowd was great,” Florida coach Pete DeBoer said. “It was a great atmosphere, outstanding.” “If we can have crowds like that every weekend, I don’t who they’re cheering for.”
Lapierre who is in his third year with Montreal scored the last three goals for Montreal including his second which chased Panthers starting goalie Craig Anderson.
“We need a spark,” said DeBoer who put in Tomas Vokoun. “We need a save.” “It’s not a great goal to give up at that point in the game.” “I think Andy knows that.”
The third goal came when Lapierre took the puck away from Panthers defenseman Bryan McCabe and shot it into an open net with only seconds left.
“I thought, I don’t think I’m going to have too many chances to do that in my career (score a hat trick),” Lapierre said. “I told myself, I have to catch him.” “I have to take it away from him, and it worked out.”
Also scoring for Montreal were forwards Alex Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec who scored short handed for what was his first goal in 10 games.
“We expect a lot more from certain players,” Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said. “Tomas is one of them.”
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