Panthers Hound Habs

     The Florida Panthers downed the Montreal Canadiens 6-5 at BB&T Center on Sunday night. Florida finished off a stretch in which they played 16 of their last 20 games at home.
     The Panthers have won five of their last six games. It was the final home game for the Panthers in the calendar year and this decade.
     Florida(20-13-5) moved ahead 1-0 at the 4:34 mark. Mike Matheson released a shot from the top left circle that went off Brett Connolly to the left of the crease. Noel Acciari put in a forehand shot from the top edge of the blue paint for his 13th goal of the season.
     The Cats expanded it to 2-0 at 6:33.  Ben Chiarot attempted to make a backhand clearing pass in the left corner that went off the right skate of Jonathan Huberdeau. It slid to the low slot and Aleksander Barkov banged in a one-time shot.
     Montreal(18-15-6) cut the deficit to 2-1 on the power play with 6:29 left in the first. Nick Suzuki passed it from the right circle to Jeff Petry at the top of the zone. He angled the puck to the left circle and Tomas Tatar snapped a shot by Sergei Bobrovsky for his 16th goal of the year. Suzuki extended his point streak to five games.
     The Habs tied up the game at 1:20 of the second period on a 4-on-4 situation. Suzuki took the puck from Aaron Ekblad on the left-wing boards and softly backhanded it to the high slot. Petry got his fifth goal of the season on a high wrist shot.
     The Canadiens got their second goal during the 4-on-4 circumstance just 52 seconds later and gained a 3-2 lead. Brett Kulak skated the puck through the slot and to the right goal line. He passed to Max Domi and got the tally on a snap shot from the slot area to expand his goal-scoring streak to five games. Suzuki compiled his third assist on the play.
     The Panthers answered back to even it 3-3 at the 3:41 mark. Evgenii Dadonov passed from the left circle to Huberdeau in the high slot. He advanced it ahead to Barkov in the low slot and he snapped a shot for his second goal of the game along with his 13th of the campaign.
     The Cats reclaimed the lead 4-3 with 6:30 left in the second. Dadonov skated down the right side and behind the Canadiens cage. Huberdeau then flicked the puck from the left goal line into the crease and it went off the left skate of Chiarot for the goal.
     Huberdeau would score on the same shift 25 seconds later and increased the Florida gap to 5-3. Barkov forwarded the puck from the neutral to Huberdeau on the left side. He skated into the left circle and blasted a slap shot for his second tally of the contest and 16th goal of the season. It was his third four-point game this regular season.
     In the third period, they scored 45 seconds in to give the Panthers a 6-3 lead. Barkov dropped the puck back to Matheson on the left point and his slap shot through traffic found the back of the net for his third goal this year.
     The Habs make it 6-4 at 4:11 with the man advantage. A Domi shot from the right circle was blocked and made it back to Jordan Weal at the blue line. He fired a slap shot that was saved, however Jesperi Kotkaniemi placed the puck into the Panthers net from close range.
     Montreal pulled their goalie for an extra attacker and cut it to 6-5 with 1:52 remaining. Petry fed the puck from the top of the zone to Shea Weber on the top left circle and he smashed in a slap shot.