Huberdeau has four points for Panthers in win against Canadiens

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals, two assists and a plus-5 rating in the Florida Panthers' 6-5 win against the Montreal Canadiens at BB&T Center on Sunday.

Huberdeau tied his NHL career high with four points and extended his point streak to six games (five goals, 11 assists).
His linemate, Aleksander Barkov, had two goals and an assist, and defenseman Mike Matheson had a goal and two assists for Florida (20-13-5), which won for the fifth time in six games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves.
"Huberdeau] was special tonight," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "He had several nice looks, great plays. He had the puck on his stick a lot. I thought that line played well together."
***[WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Panthers highlights]*
Max Domi extended his goal streak to five games for Montreal (18-15-6), which has lost three of four after going 5-1-0 in the previous six games. Jeff Petry had a goal and two assists.
"Just not tight enough," Canadiens captain Shea Weber said. "It was just loose everywhere. We've got to be as determined defensively as we are offensively, especially when we get down. It seems like we get down and we find this energy and this life and this passion. We need to play with it consistently, especially for 60 minutes and at both ends of the ice as well."
Carey Price, starting in consecutive days for the second time this season, made 28 saves.
"Teams are generating chances," Price said. "I've got to do my part and make more stops."
Huberdeau, who had 160 friends and family members in attendance, scored two goals in 35 seconds in the second period to give Florida a 5-3 lead.

He scored at 13:30 when his pass from behind the net went in off the skate of defenseman Ben Chiarot and again at 14:05 with a wrist shot from the left circle.
"It was a special night," Huberdeau said. "It was a great night, and we finished with a nice win. Obviously, they're close to us, so it's good to get two points, a four-point game, and back-to-back is never easy."
Matheson scored 45 seconds into the third period to make it 6-3 before Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored for Montreal at 4:11. Shea Weber scored at 18:08 for the 6-5 final.
"We'd rather not be giving up five goals every game," Matheson said. "I think there's a lot of positivity to take out of it. It's a great team we were playing in a big game for our division. At the same time, we'll look back and learn from our mistakes too."
After Noel Acciari gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 4:34 of the first period with his eighth goal in six games, Barkov made it 2-0 at 6:33 with a spinning backhand.

Tomas Tatar made it 2-1 at 13:31 with a power-play goal before Petry tied it 2-2 at 1:20 of the second period with a wrist shot from the high slot.
Domi extended his streak at 2:12 to give Montreal a 3-2 lead before Barkov tied it 3-3 at 3:41 when he one-timed Huberdeau's short pass across the crease.
"You can't be playing pond hockey in this league and expect to come out and win hockey games," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "You score nine goals in the last two games - five tonight, four (Saturday in a 5-4 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning), that should be enough on the road to win hockey games if you play well defensively.
"We're sloppy. Everybody's to blame. We need saves. We need better defensive play. We need guys killing plays. We need reloads. All that kind of stuff."

They said it

"I don't think we need to be boring, but I think we just need to be smarter. We've got to know when to make a play, when to chip the puck and make sure we're all on the same page coming back into the [defensive] zone. It's little things; not picking up a guy, or not reading the rush properly, that's costing us. We just need to get back and focus on making smart plays and reading the play better." -- Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry
"There were a lot of good things in the game, and protecting the lead was an improvement. Getting points at home is important for us and we had a great crowd tonight. Everybody was into it and they had a lot of fun. It was an exciting game." -- Panthers coach Joel Quenneville

Need to know

Canadiens rookie forward Nick Suzuki had an NHL career-high three assists. … Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad returned after missing one game with an upper-body injury, played 15:34 and was minus-2. … Huberdeau's first assist made him the second Panthers player after Pavel Bure (1999-2000) to reach 50 points in 38 games or fewer. His sister, Josiane, performed the Canadian and United States national anthems before the game.

What's next

Canadiens: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m.; FS-CR, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Panthers: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-O, FS-F, NHL.TV)