Suzuki scores twice, lifts Canadiens past Panthers

MONTREAL -- Nick Suzuki scored twice for the Montreal Canadiens in a 5-3 win against the Florida Panthers at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Sam Montembeault made 37 saves for Montreal (29-33-12), which has won four of five. Alex Newhook had two assists.

The Canadiens had lost seven straight games (0-6-1) to the Panthers over the past two seasons.

“They had our number last year and earlier this year, so it’s nice to beat them,” Suzuki said. “Obviously, they’re on a back-to-back and short-handed a bit, but we played a good game and it’s nice to come out with the win.”

Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist, and Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett scored for Florida (47-24-5), which has lost four of five and eight of its past 10 (2-7-1). Anthony Stolarz made 34 saves.

“I think we gave way too many chances to them to score,” Barkov said. “They’re a high-skill team, a fast team. They got what they wanted, so they scored the goals. We just couldn’t keep the puck out of the net, so we obviously need to be better than that.”

Suzuki tied it 2-2 at 5:58 of the second period, intercepting Dmitry Kulikov’s pass in the slot and beating Stolarz with a wrist shot.

Suzuki then gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal at 12:24, redirecting Mike Matheson’s wrist shot from the point past Stolarz.

Cole Caufield pushed it to 4-2 just 33 seconds into the third period when he stuffed the puck inside the left post on a wraparound.

Jake Evans scored short-handed to make it 5-2 at 4:34, scoring with a wrist shot from the slot on a breakaway.

Bennett scored a short-handed goal of his own on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle at 18:43 for the 5-3 final.

“I think they were a little quicker than we were as the game went on in the second period,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I liked the first. I liked the way we played and moved with the puck. We served up that second goal, and it hurts us right now a little bit more.”

Lundell gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 9:16 of the first period. He picked up a loose puck in the left circle, skated to the front of the net and beat Montembault with a snap shot.

Joel Armia tied it 1-1 at 10:12 when he put in a rebound in front off Michael Pezzetta’s wrist shot from the left circle.

Barkov put Florida ahead 2-1 at 13:13. He took a cross-ice pass from Vladimir Tarasenko below the left circle, skated through the crease and scored with a backhand around Montembeault’s outstretched left pad.

“We’ve kind of been close to these guys these past couple of games, and we’re trying to bring the game that they play to them earlier than they do to us,” Caufield said. “So, it’s good to get over that hump and hopefully we can keep that going.”

NOTES: Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad left after the first period with an undisclosed injury. Maurice said the injury would be further evaluated Wednesday. … Suzuki leads the Canadiens with an NHL career-high 71 points (32 goals, 39 assists). He needs one more assist to become the first Montreal player with at least 30 goals and 40 assists in a season since Alex Kovalev (35 goals, 49 assists) in 2007-08.