LDN - Sports

Danault OT goal lifts Habs over Panthers

[December 30, 2016] SUNRISE, Fla. -- Phillip Danault and Max Pacioretty helped the Montreal Canadiens break a losing streak and finally beat the Florida Panthers.

Danault scored a breakaway goal 39 seconds into overtime on a feed from Pacioretty as Montreal rallied to beat Florida 3-2 on Thursday.

Pacioretty gained possession of the puck near the Florida bench and sent a long pass to a streaking Danault, who skated up the middle of the ice with no Panthers defenders near.

Danault's shot beat Florida goalie James Reimer stick side for the overtime win.

"I saw the hole. I looked first. If there wasn't an opening, I probably wouldn't have shot there. It wasn't big, but it went in. Big win," said Danault, who recorded his seventh goal.

Montreal coach Michel Therrien said Pacioretty and Danault played a strong game, as did Brendan Gallagher and goalie Al Montoya, who played the previous two seasons with Florida as a backup to Roberto Luongo.

"I thought Pacioretty, as a true leader tonight, you always lead by your actions and definitely and played really well. And Danault was solid. That whole line, they were really good for us tonight," Therrien said.

"It was important for us to bounce back after the third period that we played yesterday. Right from the get-go I thought we dictated the game."

Pacioretty and Gallagher scored for Montreal (22-9-5) while Alexander Radulov, Nathan Beaulieu, Danault and Pacioretty recorded assists. Montoya posted 31 saves.

Gallagher scored his sixth goal at 17:23 of the third period to tie the game at 2-2.

"It's good for Gally to score that tying goal, good for his confidence. I thought he played a good game," Therrien said.

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.

The win broke a three-game losing streak by Montreal and five overall to the Panthers, the Canadiens rival in the Atlantic Division.

Trocheck said the Panthers, who have played in 16 games requiring extra time, must find a way to lock down the late leads.

"We've just got to learn how to close out games as a team. We're sitting back too much once we get leads," the center said.

"We play our game up until we get a lead and then we get back on our heels. Any time (you do that) any good team's going to take it to you and get scoring opportunities, and that's what happened."

Florida interim head coach Tom Rowe said the tough games are taking a toll on his club.

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"When you're as undermanned as we are, you scratch and claw for every point. We had to use of top guys an awful lot for penalties," Rowe said.

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 Radulov.

The goal was the 10th in the last 12 games for the red-hot Pacioretty.

Rowe said top line center Aleksander Barkov would likely be out 2-3 weeks from the injury he suffered on Wednesday against Toronto.

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 Florida 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.

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