MONTREAL (AP) \u2014 Nick Suzuki scored his second of the game 29 seconds into overtime as the Montreal Canadiens came back for a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers in the second game of a home-and-home on Tuesday night. Suzuki also tied the game with 8.4 seconds remaining in regulation. Josh Anderson also scored for Montreal (35-30-9) and Sam Montembeault stopped 25 shots.<\/p>\n
Lane Hutson earned three assists to pad that total to 57 this season, passing Chris Chelios for second-most by a rookie defenseman in NHL history. Mackie Samoskevich and Niko Mikkola scored for Florida (44-26-4), which was swept in four games against Montreal this season. The Canadiens also beat the Panthers 4-3 in Sunrise, Florida, on Sunday. Vitek Vanecek made 18 saves. He has only one win in 11 starts since Nov. 30.<\/p>\n
The Canadiens entered the game holding the Eastern Conference\u2019s second wild-card spot. The Panthers, meanwhile, moved two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for top spot in the Atlantic Division.<\/p>\n
Panthers: Mikkola was showered with boos each time he touched the puck after something that transpired in Sunday\u2019s game. As the final buzzer sounded, the 6-foot-6 defenseman fired a slapshot down the ice and nearly struck Montreal\u2019s David Savard, leading to a scrum. Canadiens: Started strong with a 9-5 edge in shots during an energetic first period but lost steam in the second.<\/p>\n
Amid the jeers, Mikkola\u2019s centering pass deflected off Jake Evans\u2019 stick and into Montreal\u2019s net at 10:37 of the first period. His sixth goal of the season tied the game 1-1 and stifled Montreal\u2019s early momentum.<\/p>\n
Hutson became the 10th rookie NHL defenseman to reach 60 points in a season. He\u2019s also only the third Canadiens blueliner in franchise history to tally 57 assists in a campaign.<\/p>\n
The Panthers visit the Maple Leafs on Wednesday. The Canadiens host the Bruins on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Montreal Canadiens’ dramatic 3-2 overtime win over the Florida Panthers was a thrilling conclusion to their home-and-home series. With Suzuki’s late-game heroics and Hutson’s record-breaking assists, the team demonstrated their determination and skill. As the season progresses, the Canadiens will look to maintain their momentum and secure a spot in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Game Recap MONTREAL (AP) \u2014 Nick Suzuki scored his second of the game 29 seconds into overtime as the Montreal Canadiens came back for a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers in the second game of a home-and-home on Tuesday night. Suzuki also tied the game with 8.4 seconds remaining in regulation. Josh Anderson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wsvn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/FLORIDA-PANTHERS.jpg?quality=60&strip=color&w=1920&resize=1920,1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12060,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12058\/revisions\/12060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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