SUNRISE, Fla. _ What a difference a year makes.
Last year on April 5, the Panthers clinched the Atlantic Division title with a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
Then Panthers coach Gerard Gallant was a finalist for the Jack Adams Coach of the Year award for directing a franchise-record 103-point season.
This year, on Monday night, despite Panthers' Jonathan Marchessault's 30th goal, the Canadiens downed the Panthers 4-1 in front of a predominately pro-Habs crowd in the BB&T Center to clinch the Atlantic with their fifth straight win. The sixth-place Panthers ran their losing streak to five while playing out the string of a dismal season.
Before the game, an irate Panthers fan was mad enough to hire a plane to fly over the BB&T Center with a banner: Rowe must go! Call him a cab!
Gallant was fired via phone by Panthers owner Vinnie Viola following a 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes on Nov. 27, and an AP photo showed Gallant getting into a cab outside of PNC Arena. General manager Tom Rowe was hired on an interim basis and has guided the Panthers to a 22-26-10 record. Gallant was 11-9-1 when he was fired.
Rowe has made it clear that he loves the job and would like to return as coach, but all decisions are on hold until the season ends on Sunday in Washington.
Tied at 1 after two, Canadiens rookie left wing Artturi Lehkonen unleashed two blasts, for his 15th and 16th goals, while Alexander Radulov added an empty netter.
Panthers center Vincent Trocheck, mired in a 17-game goal drought, hit the post on the tail end of a 3-on-1 rush.
The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead at 13:12 of the first period when Alex Galchenyuk was left unchecked behind the Panthers' net until he centered it off the pads of Reto Berra to Andrew Shaw for a point-blanker.
However, at 8:57 of the second, Michael Sgarbossa made a slick pass to a streaking Marchessault, who waited until rookie goalie Charlie Lindgren bit for a 1-1 tie.
Marchessault is the first Panther to score 30 goals since David Booth had 31 goals in the 2008-09 season. Marchessault's previous career high was 7 for Tampa last season. The Panthers managed just one shot on a 1:08, 5-on-3 advantage.
Lindgren, making his first appearance of the season and second NHL start, was in for a rested Carey Price as backup Al Montoya recovers from a lower-body issue. The Canadiens were also without All-Star defenseman Shea Weber, who was sent back to Montreal with a lower-body injury.
