The Montreal Canadiens will look to make it back-to-back victories over the visiting Florida Panthers when the two teams hit the ice on Tuesday night to complete a home-and-home series.
Captain Nick Suzuki scored and added two assists as Montreal (34-30-9, 77 points) doubled up Florida 4-2 on Sunday night in Sunrise, Fla.
The Canadiens, who had lost five straight entering Sunday’s contest, have won all three meetings with the Panthers this season while outscoring Florida 11-3.
Patrik Laine opened the scoring, Juraj Slafkovsky added a goal and an assist, and Brendan Gallagher scored an empty-netter for the Canadiens, who are 4-3-3 over their last 10.
“We had a good day off (on Saturday), everyone rested, and we were ready to get the two points (in Florida),” Slafkovsky said. “It was a bounce forward from last week, and everyone fought out there. We have to keep going. It’s not about one win. We have nine left, and we have to keep grabbing points.”
Lane Hutson added three assists and Sam Montembeault made 24 saves in the victory.
Suzuki leads the Canadiens with 77 points in 73 contests while Cole Caufield paces Montreal with 34 goals in 73 games.
“It was definitely important to get the win (Sunday),” Suzuki said. “The road trip, obviously, wasn’t that great for us. But I felt like, if we got the win (on Sunday), it would put us in good position going home. It was much-needed.”
The Canadiens, 18-12-5 at home this season, currently own the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference because they have a game in hand over the New York Rangers (also 77 points).
Gallagher has points in three straight games (one goal, two assists).
Montembeault is 26-23-6 with an .899 save percentage and a 2.91 goals-against average in 55 games this season. Backup Jakub Dobes is 6-4-2 with an .897 save percentage and a 3.02 GAA in 14 appearances.
The Panthers (44-26-3, 91 points) travel to Montreal looking to make up ground on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the race for the Atlantic Division’s top spot. Florida, 5-5-0 over its last 10, sits third in the division and three points behind the Leafs with a game in hand.
Seth Jones and Sam Reinhart scored in Sunday’s loss to the Canadiens while Aleksander Barkov assisted on both goals for the Panthers, who had won seven straight home games.
Reinhart paces the Panthers with 36 goals and 76 points in 73 games.
Barkov has four assists over his last three games and a team-leading 48 helpers this season.
“No excuses. They played better than us in all three games,” said Barkov of the season series against the Canadiens. “We obviously had some good moments in (Sunday’s) game, but we couldn’t score more than them. They hung in, got the goals they needed. They play really hard, their (playoff) lives are on the line. We have to be better, that’s all.”
Sergei Bobrovsky, who’s 31-16-2 with a .907 save percentage and a 2.44 GAA in 49 starts this season, made 18 saves in the loss.
Vitek Vanecek is 1-2-0 with an .897 save percentage and a 3.04 GAA in three starts since coming over from the San Jose Sharks.
–Field Level Media
