Yahoo Finance Florida Panthers trade for defenseman Brandon Montour, then lose ugly to Stars in Dallas
The Florida Panthers’ hopes to snap a rare losing streak didn’t last long Saturday.
In just one minute, the Panthers fell into a hole. Less than a minute later, the Dallas Stars doubled their deficit. By the end of the first 10 minutes, Florida was down by three and tumbling to one of its ugliest losses of the season, 4-1 at the hands of the Stars in Dallas.
With three straight losses, the Panthers match their longest losing streak of the season and miss a chance to make up ground in the Central Division race. Florida, for the moment, remained tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place, one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Panthers (26-12-4) were down 3-0 by the time they finally put a shot on goal and didn’t score until 1.5 seconds remained in the second period. Less than two minutes of game time later, the Stars (15-14-10) hit right back to push their lead to 4-1 and bury Florida at the American Airlines Center.
Sergei Bobrovsky’s four goals allowed were his most in his last six games and the goaltender’s .800 save percentage was his worst since before Valentine’s Day.
Bobrovsky was far from the only one to blame, though. Dallas’ first two goals both came off giveaways in the defensive zone and the Panthers spent the first 10 minutes of the game playing almost entirely within their own zone. Florida botched its first two power plays — extending its streak of futility to 1 of 22 since defenseman Aaron Ekblad’s injury — before Aleksander Barkov finally scored on a power play just before the buzzer at the end of the second period.
The star center’s goal finally gave the Panthers some life heading into the third, down 3-1. It didn’t last long.
In the opening minutes, Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin stuffed star forward Carter Verhaeghe on a breakaway. Less than a minute later, impressive rookie Jason Robertson answered with his second goal of the game and Dallas pushed its lead back to 4-1.
Panthers trade for defenseman Montour
Florida has been searching for help on defense ever since Ekblad went down with a likely season-ending injury last month. With two days until the trade deadline, it found some.
The Panthers landed Brandon Montour in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, shortly before the puck dropped in Texas. Florida sent a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft to the Sabres in exchange for the defenseman.
Official.
We have acquired defenseman Brandon Montour from Buffalo in exchange for a 2021 third-round draft pick.
» https://t.co/nQqeO4D2rI pic.twitter.com/1NIgV5l10H— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) April 10, 2021
Montour has five goals and nine assists this season for the league-worst Sabres and should give the Panthers a top-four defenseman to play on one of their top pairings. While MacKenzie Weegar has asserted himself as Florida’s top defenseman in the wake of Ekblad’s injury, fellow defenseman Keith Yandle has seen his minutes dwindle, while the Panthers have relied on Gustav Forsling to play next to Weegar and given a significant role to fellow defenseman Matt Kiersted, who was just playing college hockey last month.
“Brandon is a capable and talented right-shot defenseman who will have an immediate impact on our club,” general manager Bill Zito said in a statement. “His two-way acumen and ability to play important minutes make him an exciting addition to the Panthers.”
Montour is in the last and only season of a one-year, $3.85-million contract. Montour, a former second-round pick, has 29 goals and 76 assists in 281 games across five NHL seasons.
The trade for Montour doesn’t have to be the last for Florida. The Panthers still have more than $12 million in trade-deadline cap space, according to CapFriendly, even after acquiring Montour with his full cap hit. It gives them room to continue bolstering their defense or make a move for another high-profile forward, like Buffalo left wing Taylor Hall, who’s making $8 million this season. Florida has also been linked to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are hoping to move defenseman David Savard and winger Nick Foligno by the deadline Monday.
The trade is the Panthers’ third since April. Florida made a pair of trades with the Chicago Blackhawks in the last week, first dealing center Vinnie Hinostroza to the Blackhawks, then sending three players to Chicago, including winger Brett Connolly, in a cap-clearing deal to set up the Panthers for bigger moves ahead of the deadline.
