Montreal Canadiens 3, Florida Panthers 2 (OT)
Nick Suzuki scored the game-tying goal with 8.7 seconds to go — and the overtime winner — to sink the Florida Panthers.
The Florida Panthers fell to the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime, unable to avenge their 4-2 loss against the Habs.
A late third-period game-tying backhand goal by Nick Suzuki, with help from Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky, opened the door to overtime.
Just 29 seconds into overtime, Suzuki scored struck again with a wrap-around to win it for Montreal.
Florida sits two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division after the overtime loss. The Panthers will face off with the Leafs tomorrow at 7 p.m.
With the Canadiens win, they sweep the 2024-25 season, beating the Panthers in all four meetings. Florida only managed to grab one point in those four meetings.
The first period opened with a bang: a collision between two Panthers, Nico Sturm and AJ Greer. The hit left Nico Sturm on the ground and sent him to the locker room.
Soon after, at 4:43, the Canadiens opened the scoring with a tip-in goal by Josh Anderson, assisted by Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson. Niko Mikkola answered soon after by scoring a game-tying wrister at 10:37, assisted by Anton Lundell, who has a new career high in assists with 27.
At the end of the first, the score was 1-1, with shots on goal in favor of the Canadiens, who had nine shots on goal, and the Panthers, who had 5.
The second period saw Captain Aleksander Barkov leave for the dressing room without a known reason. Still, the Panthers took the lead with a snapshot at 18:47, scored by Mackie Samoskevich and assisted by Seth Jones, making it 2-1 Panthers.
The shots at the end of the second were 13-7 in favor of the Panthers.
The third period most notably saw Barkov return to the bench. Not much action occurred in this period until the last 2 minutes or so, and in the closing 8 seconds, the Canadiens tied the game to bring it to overtime, thanks to a backhand goal by Nick Suzuki with help from Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky.
The shots at the end of the third were 27-20 in favor of the Panthers.
However, the Canadiens smothered the Panthers in overtime, and just 29 seconds in, Nick Suzuki scored his second of the night, scoring 3-2 Canadiens.