Montreal Gazette

Pacioretty pots winner against Panthers in OT

- PAT HICKEY phickey@ montrealga­zette. com twitter. com/ zababes1

The skinny: Max Pacioretty scored a power play goal at 2: 59 of overtime to give the Canadiens a 3- 2 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night at the Bell Centre. Olympic teammates Carey Price and Roberto Luongo received lots of help from their teammates in a tight- checking defensive battle. It was the third time in four games this season that the teams have gone to overtime.

Moving up: With the win, the Canadiens moved thee points ahead of Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division race. The Panthers remained in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, four points shy of a wild- card position.

Breaking through: Two droughts came to an end when Alex Galchenyuk scored a power play goal at 14: 35 of the second period to tie the game at 2- 2. It was Galchenyuk’s 20th goal of the season, but he had gone 11 games since his last goal on March 4 in Anaheim. And it was the first power play goal in six games for the Canadiens. Galchenyuk was behind the net looking to make a pass but when nobody challenged him, he stepped in front and lifted the puck over Luongo’s left shoulder.

Barkov doubles down: The Panthers took a 2- 1 lead on a pair of secondperi­od goals by Aleksander Barkov. He went up the middle unimpeded and beat Price with a backhander at 6: 09 to tie the game at 1- 1. Barkov then gave Florida the lead when

he was the second player to deflect Dmitry Kulikov’s shot from the point on a power play at 13: 11. Jonathan Huberdeau assisted on both goals.

Power vacuum: The Canadiens came up empty on two first- period power plays, but they managed to keep the puck in the Florida zone and Lars Eller opened the scoring at 17: 37. Eller scored his 12th goal of the season when he beat Luongo on the rebound of a shot by Jeff Petry, who picked up an assist for his first point in 13 games as a Canadien.

Change up: Devante Smith- Pelly was a healthy scratch for the Canadiens and was replaced on the third line by Brian Flynn. Coach Michel Therrien said the switch was planned to give Flynn some ice time after he was healthy scratch for seven of the past eight games and it was only a coincidenc­e the change came after a couple of so- so games from Smith- Pelly in Nashville and Winnipeg. Defenceman Tom Gilbert, who took a shot in the jaw last Saturday, missed his third consecutiv­e game. He skated with his teammates Saturday morning and wore a full cage.

What’s next: The Canadiens are home to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday in a game that could go a long way to determine which team finishes first in the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens face the Washington Capitals on Thursday at the Bell Centre and then go back on the road for games in New Jersey on Friday and in Florida on Sunday.

 ?? A L L E N MC I N N I S / MO N T R E A L G A Z E T T E ?? Defenceman P. K. Subban celebrates with left wing Max Pacioretty, left, after Pacioretty scored the game- winning goal in overtime against Florida Panthers’ goalie Roberto Luongo at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday.
A L L E N MC I N N I S / MO N T R E A L G A Z E T T E Defenceman P. K. Subban celebrates with left wing Max Pacioretty, left, after Pacioretty scored the game- winning goal in overtime against Florida Panthers’ goalie Roberto Luongo at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday.

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