Cole Caufield and Alexandre Texier scored in the shootout to complete the host Montreal Canadiens’ 4-3 comeback win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
Ivan Demidov, Phillip Danault and Nick Suzuki scored for the Canadiens (46-22-10, 102 points) in regulation. Montreal has won nine of its last 10. Juraj Slafkovsky had two assists and Jakub Dobes stopped 30 shots.
Carter Verhaeghe, Cole Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen got the goals for the Panthers (37-37-4, 78 points), who have lost six of eight. Danill Tarasov made 29 saves.
Suzuki tied the game 3-3 with 21 seconds left in regulation. He put the puck into an empty net after taking a pass from defenseman Lane Hutson from behind the net.
Danault tied it 2-2, 6:22 into the third period with a snap shot from the slot. It came with a penalty being called against Florida and the Canadiens playing 6-on-5 on the ice with Dobes pulled.
But Luostarinen restored the lead just 1:27 later when he tipped in defenseman Gustav Forsling’s shot.
Reinhart gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead with 6:17 left in the second period. He won a foot race for the puck from the neutral zone to create a short semi-breakaway for himself and, from almost along the goal line, poked the puck just inside the left goal post.
Demidov’s power-play goal 54 seconds into the middle period had tied the game 1-1 for the Canadiens. It came on a one-time slap shot from the top of the right circle off a pass from Caufield. Florida defenseman Tobias Bjornfot slashed Demidov and had been penalized for it 22 seconds earlier.
Verhaeghe opened the scoring 9:23 into the first period when the rebound of a shot by defenseman Donovan Sebrango caromed out to Verhaeghe in the left circle. He then drilled it past Dobes for Verhaeghe’s 25th goal and his third in the last four games.
Montreal’s Kirby Dach and Texier returned from injuries. Dach missed 11 games with an upper-body injury and Texier seven games with a lower-body injury.
–Field Level Media
