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Streaking Panthers cruise past Canadiens

Jan 30, 2009 - 4:26 AM By Rick Menning PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- If the Florida Panthers had things their way, the calendar always would read January.

Stephen Weiss recorded a goal and two assists as the Panthers ended a losing streak against the Montreal Canadiens and maintained their red-hot play this month with a 5-1 victory on Thursday.

Along with securing its second straight win since the All-Star break, Florida snapped a five-game skid against Montreal.

Weiss and All-Star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester scored power-play goals in the first period and Radek Dvorak converted on a penalty shot midway through the third for the Panthers.

"A great all-around game," Weiss said. "We had the will and the skill tonight."

Florida coach Peter DeBoer had nothing but high praise for the team's effort.

"It was our best 60 minutes from a system point of view and how we want to play going forward," DeBoer said. "There are not many games when a coach can feel good about every component of the game, but tonight, I felt that way."

Rookie Michael Frolik and Richard Zednik also tallied, Cory Stillman collected three assists and Nathan Horton added two for Florida, which improved to 7-1-3 in January.

"It's just unbelievable to be a part of this," Frolik said. "I'm feeling more comfortable out there all the time. It's really nice to be contributing to what's going on with this team right now."

Robert Lang scored the lone goal for Montreal, which has dropped four straight.

"Bad penalties, bad goals at the start. It's happened all too often recently," Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said. "When we face adversity, as we have lately, we seem to go backwards."

The Panthers capitalized on two of three power-play chances in the first period to move ahead.

Just 21 seconds after Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges was called for roughing, Bouwmeester netted his 11th goal by burying the rebound of a shot by Weiss at 3:54 of the opening session. It was Bouwmeester's eighth point in his last nine games.

"It's just a great feeling to come out of the (All-Star) break and beat two teams that are ahead of us in the standings," Bouwmeester said of following up Tuesday's win over Philadelphia with this one. "It says a lot about our character."

Weiss again was tenacious around the crease and managed to poke the puck under sprawling All-Star goaltender Carey Price during a flurry in front with 4:24 left in the period to double the lead.

Price allowed five goals for the second straight outing and has yet to regain his form after missing eight contests with a sprained right ankle.

"I think we all didn't play our best," Price said. "We've got to pull together. We can't start pointing fingers now or we'll never dig ourselves out of the hole."

"We just haven't been able to follow through on anything," Carbonneau said. "I thought we came in ready to play, but the result wasn't there."

Florida got into penalty trouble of its own late in the period as Montreal entered the second with a two-man advantage.

The Panthers successfully killed the first penalty, but the Canadiens' persistence in the offensive zone paid off as Lang drilled a one-timer past netminder Tomas Vokoun 53 seconds into the session for a power-play goal, his 17th tally of the season.

With 5:16 remaining in the middle period, Zednik managed to gain control of the puck while falling to the ice and knock it past Price to give Florida a 3-1 cushion. Dvorak netted his eighth of the season on a penalty shot with 8:47 to go in the third, and Frolik capped the scoring less than three minutes later with his 11th tally.

Vokoun made 35 saves in improving to 6-1-2 in his last nine games.

"We are playing with a lot of confidence right now," Vokoun said. "(Philadelphia and Montreal) are two very good teams that play smart hockey, and for us to get four points is a good feeling."