It was the Panthers first home game since March 10, which is almost three weeks. Claude Giroux, Ben Chiarot and Robert Hagg made their home debuts with the club.
Florida set a franchise record with the most goals in a regular season at 268. The Panthers previous high was 264 goals in 2018-19.
Montreal(18-38-11) struck first 2:32 into the contest. Laurent Dauphin made a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone. Jesse Ylonen centered it from the left circle and Chris Wideman snapped a shot from the high slot by Sergei Bobrovsky. It was Wideman's third goal of the campaign and first tally in 42 games.
Florida(45-15-6) got a shorthanded goal with 3:43 left in the first to tie it 1-1. Eetu Luostarinen carried the puck into the right circle and slid it across. Jonathan Huberdeau faked and then put in a backhand shot from the crease past Jake Allen for his 22nd goal of the season.
It became 2-1 for the Cats with 2:03 to go in the period. Joe Thornton stole the puck in the left corner and passed it to the middle. Ryan Lomberg ripped a one-time slap shot from the top left circle.
In the second period, the Panthers extended it to 3-1 at the 2:37 mark. Chiarot fired a shot from the blue line that went off a defender in the low slot. Sam Bennett pounced on it and scored on a forehand shot from the left of the crease for his 26th goal.
Florida made it 4-1 at 7:57 of the second. Carter Verhaeghe kept the puck in the Montreal zone on the left point. Aleksander Barkov sent a square pass from the left wing and Lomberg released a snap shot from the high slot for his second tally of the contest and eighth goal this season.
The Canadiens blitzed down the stretch of the second frame and tied it 4-4 with three straight goals in a 1:42 time span. Joel Edmundson got his first goal of the year with 3:36 left, Dauphin added his fourth tally of the campaign with 3:05 to go and Christian Dvorak found the net for ninth time with 1:54 remaining.
The Panthers regained the lead 5-4 at 1:19 of the third period. Huberdeau collected his 23rd goal on assists from Bennett and Lomberg. Huberdeau set a new career-high with his 93rd point of the season. He did have 92 points back in the 2018-19 season.
The Cats expanded it to 6-4 with 5:17 left in the third. Sam Reinhart pushed the puck into the right corner. Bennett connected a pass from the right goal line and Mason Marchment tapped it in from the blue paint for his 15th goal of the season. Reinhart got his 200th NHL assist on the play.
Barkov put in an empty-net goal with 2:34 left for his 29th goal in 2021-22. Huberdeau tied Joe Juneau with his 70th assist for the most assists in a regular season by a left wing in NHL history. Giroux was credited with a secondary assist and marked his fifth assist in four contests with Florida.
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