Ekblad lifts Panthers over Habs in OT
MONTREAL -- Aaron Ekblad scored the overtime winner to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
It marked the first time the Canadiens have lost consecutive games this season.
Carey Price made 20 saves for the Canadiens (13-2-2). Roberto Luongo stopped 34 shots for Florida.
Alex Petrovic, Kyle Rau and Denis Malgin also scored for the Panthers (8-7-1).
Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais and Paul Byron scored in regulation for Montreal.
The Canadiens got off to a quick start in this one, coming close to putting the puck in the net and drawing a penalty before the game was 30 seconds old.
Montreal's steadily improving power play connected for a third straight game -- and fourth time in the past five games -- to give the home side the lead at 2:12 of the first. A give-and-go between Pacioretty, in the corner, and Nathan Beaulieu, at the blue line, ended with the Canadiens captain skating into the circle before wiring it past Luongo.
It was the 12th time in 17 games this season that Montreal has opened the scoring.
The Panthers took advantage of a poor clearing attempt by Montreal to even the score at 5:04. Phillip Danault sent the puck up the middle and Petrovic picked it up, ripping a wrister from the high slot into the back of the net.
Rau's second of the season gave Florida its first lead of the night with less than five minutes remaining. Montreal native Michael Matheson won a battle behind the net and sent a backhand feed to Rau alone in the slot.
Desharnais tied the game at 4:22 of the second with his first goal since Oct. 18. Andrei Markov sent a cross-ice feed to Desharnais, who was uncovered in the left circle.
The Canadiens were in control from that point on, holding Florida without a shot for nearly 10 minutes. When the Panthers finally did get a chance, they nearly took the lead. Reilly Smith forced Price into a diving save. The puck trickled to the other side and defenseman Jeff Petry was quick to clear it out of harm's way.
Malgin put the Panthers ahead at 17:42 when he carried the puck in and, with Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry in front of him, fooled Price with a knuckleball-type shot glove side.
Byron tied it at 5:46 of the third period when he poked the puck through Luongo's pads after the goaltender thought he was in control of a save off Brendan Gallagher.
NOTES: Canadiens RW Alexander Radulov missed the game with an illness and was replaced by LW Chris Terry, who was called up from the AHL's St. John's IceCaps on Monday. ... Montreal D Greg Pateryn drew back in after sitting the past three games as a healthy scratch. ... Canadiens F Brian Flynn missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury while D Joel Hanley was a healthy scratch. ... Panthers rookie D Mike Matheson, who hails from the Montreal suburb of Pointe-Claire, played his first game at the Bell Centre with 30-40 family members expected to attend. ... Florida C Seth Griffith, claimed on waivers from Toronto on Saturday, made his Panthers debut while C Jared McCann, LW Shawn Thornton and D Dylan McIlrath were scratched.