Three Point Game for Canadiens Captain | RECAP: MTL @ FLA

Forwards

22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
89 Joshua Roy - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia
11 Brendan Gallagher - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson
70 Tanner Pearson - 36 Colin White - 56 Jesse Ylonen

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 21 Kaiden Guhle
72 Arber Xhekaj - 58 David Savard
54 Jordan Harris - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic

Goaltenders

Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Michael Pezzetta, Jake Allen
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body), Jayden Struble (lower body)

Given the relative positions in the standings of the two clubs, this was a much more entertaining contest than many expected. Coming into the game, the Canadiens had lost six consecutive games to Florida and had dropped has nine of their last 10 games against the Panthers.

The first period was rather evenly played. Shots on goal were 11 a side and each team generated three high-danger scoring chances.

The Panthers opened the scoring with Aleksander Barkov firing a shot under the glove of Sam Montembeault, a goal that the Canadiens goaltender would like to have back. The Florida lead was short-lived as 83 seconds later Arber Xhekaj made a long lead pass to spring Nick Suzuki who went in alone and beat Anthony Stolarz.

The second period was dominated by the Panthers. Florida spent lengthy periods of time in the Montreal zone. With David Savard in the box for his second penalty of the game, Sam Reinhart scored on the power play, his 40th goal of the season.

Somehow the Canadiens salvaged the period as Suzuki won a faceoff back to Juraj Slafkovsky who tied the game with 0.7 seconds left in the middle frame. Slafkovsky ended a four-game point drought.

Three minutes into the third period, the Canadiens took their first lead of the game. Alex Newhook scored a power play goal on a feed from Cole Caufield.

The Panthers tied the game with just under seven minutes left while the Canadiens were on the power play. Reinhart scored his second goal of the game from a bad angle that fooled Montembeault. It was the tenth time this season that Montreal had given up a shorthanded goal, worst in the NHL.

Overtime featured scoring chances from each team. In the shootout, two of the three Florida shooters put pucks past Montembeault as the Panthers became the second team in the league with 40 wins on the season.

Canadiens (23-28-9)
Shots: 21
Face-off %: 57.4
Power play: 0/0
Penalty minutes: 6
Hits: 22
Blocks: 24

Panthers (40-16-4)
Shots: 38
Face-off %: 42.6
Power play: 0/3
Penalty minutes: 0
Hits: 16
Blocks: 12

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Suzuki (24)
2nd period: Slafkovsky (13)
3rd period: Newhook (9)-PPG 
OT: --
SO: --

Panthers Scorers
1st period: Barkov (14)
2nd period: Reinhart (40)-PPG
3rd period: Reinhart (41)-SHG
OT: --
SO: Lundell - game-deciding goal

Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (OTL) 13-10-5
FLA: Stolarz (W) 11-5-2

Nick Suzuki - Suzuki recorded a goal and two assists with five shots on goal. The captain now has 59 points in 60 games this season.

Martin St. Louis

"We played an excellent match. There is not much to dislike other than the result."

Arber Xhekaj

"We're proving to ourselves that we can hold our own against anyone, anytime. Our standards are very high. It hurts to lose, but you have to remember all the good things we did tonight."

The Canadiens continue with their visit to Florida by taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

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