In Sunrise Thursday, Roberto Luongo made 40 saves to blank the Montreal Canadiens, 5-0.
With the Columbus Blue Jackets winning over the Colorado Avalanche, the Panthers remain two points out of a playoff spot.
“He’s (Luongo) been amazing,” Keith Yandle said. “He’s been laser-focused. He’s the backbone of our team. When he’s kicking the way he is, it’s a fun thing to watch.”
Evgenii Dadonov, Vincent Trocheck, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nick Bjugstad, and Micheal Haley scored for the Panthers.
“We just have to build off the momentum,” Luongo said. “Going into the next game you can’t take it for granted. You’ve got to work, play the system and play hard and take advantage of the opportunities like we have been. Once we have the lead we don’t look back.”
The Habs dropped to 25-31-11 on the season.
“You have to live with the knocks and the bad breaks,” Montreal head coach Claude Julien said. “We’re asking a lot of players to play bigger roles than they’re ready for because we have an arm-length of injuries. A lot of those guys are impact players on our team; we all know that and we have to live with the consequences.”
[WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Panthers highlights]
Charlie Lindgren made 27 saves in taking the loss.
Lindgren has been without much support on offense or defense and has surrendered 11 goals in two starts.
“We are making the mistakes that leave him by himself out there. We know he’s good and we know he’s doing his best and we’re not helping him,” the Canadiens’ Nicolas Deslauriers said after the game in defense of his goalie.
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