Danault OT goal lifts Habs over Panthers
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Phillip Danault scored a breakaway goal 39 seconds into overtime as the Montreal Canadiens rallied to beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Thursday.
Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (22-9-5) while Alexander Radulov, Nathan Beaulieu, Danault and Pacioretty recorded assists. Goaltender Al Montoya posted 31 saves.
Jason Demers and Vincent Trocheck scored for Florida (15-14-8). Jussi Jokinen, Jonathan Marchessault and Keith Yandle had assists and James Reimer made 38 saves for the Panthers.
Gallagher scored his sixth goal at 17:23 of the third period to tie the game at 2-2.
Florida won the previous five meetings, sweeping the four-game set last season and winning a 4-3 overtime thriller Nov. 15 in Montreal on Aaron Ekblad's broken-stick game-winner.
The play was sloppy in the first period as both clubs skated in the second game of back-to-backs, but the Panthers finally broke through by way of a fortunate bounce.
Jokinen dug a puck out from a scrum behind the Montreal goal and zipped a pass to Demers, stationed by himself above the right circle. The defenseman's blast was initially saved by Montoya, but the puck caromed off Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber and into the net for Demers' seventh goal at 13:58.
The tally tied Demers' career high for a season. The Quebec native scored seven for Dallas last year in 62 games.
The teams traded power-play goals in the first half of a penalty-filled second period.
Pacioretty scored his 15th at 5:45 from inside the right circle to tie it 1-1 off a pass from Alexander Radulov.
The goal was the 10th in the last 12 games for the red-hot Pacioretty.
Trocheck scored his 10th when he sent a shot from above the left circle at 9:02 that beat Montoya high on the glove side for a 2-1 lead.
NOTES: Montreal scratched RW Sven Andrighetto and D Zach Redmond. ... D Jeff Petry played in his 400th NHL game. He played in his 100th with the Canadiens on Dec. 17 against Washington. ... Florida scratched D Dylan McIlrath, C Aleksander Barkov and C Kyle Rau. ... C Michael Sgarbossa, acquired from Anaheim last month for Logan Shaw, made his Panthers debut. ... The Panthers placed RW Reilly Smith (concussion) on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 22. ... Florida interim coach Tom Rowe said top line forward Barkov, the team's leading scorer with 27 points, had an MRI and is out indefinitely after being hurt against Toronto on Wednesday. Top six wingers Jonathan Huberdeau and Reilly Smith are also injured and unavailable. ... The Panthers were coming off a season-high 47 shots on goal in the 3-2 shootout loss to the Maple Leafs. Their 40 shots allowed tied their season high.