Florida beats Vegas, spoiling Gallant return

Aaron Ekblad scored 40 seconds into overtime to lift the Panthers to a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night, spoiling former coach Gerard Gallant’s return to Florida.

Ekblad grabbed a rebound in the high slot and fired it past Malcolm Subban to give Florida its second win in six games this month.

Aleksander Barkov scored his league-leading fifth short-handed goal of the season and had two assists, and Evgenii Dadonov and Jamie McGinn also scored for the Panthers. James Reimer stopped 33 shots.

William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and David Perron and James Neal also scored for Vegas. Subban

finished with 22 saves.

Dadonov broke a 2-2 tie when he poked in a rebound at 3:35 of the third. Barkov’s shot from the high slot bounced off Subban’s glove out to Dadonov to the right of the crease and Dadonov pushed the puck into the net. Dadonov has three goals in the past two games. CANADIENS 3, CAPITALS 2

>> Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist to help Montreal break a threegame losing streak with a win over Washington.

Paul Byron also scored for the Canadiens. Antii Niemi, playing in place of Carey Price, who had been in goal for eight consecutive games, stopped 24 shots.

John Carlson and Lars Eller scored for the Capitals, and Philipp Grubauer finished with 22 saves.

LYNNE SLADKY — ASSOCIATED PRESS The Florida Panthers’ Jamie McGinn (88) celebrates with Jared McCann after scoring in the first period of a 4-3 overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. ExFlorida coach Gerard Gallant lost in his Florida return.