MTL@FLA: What you need to know

SUNRISE - The Habs will look to snap their three-game losing streak in their second game in as many nights, this time against the Florida Panthers.

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Here's what you need to know heading into the game:
1.The Habs have started the second leg of their seven-game road trip - the longest one of the season - on a bad note, falling 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Wednesday. John Cooper's squad scored four goals off the sticks of Alex Killorn, Brayden Point (2) and Brandon Hagel. Defenseman Kaiden Guhle notched his second of the campaign with less than five minutes left to play after sending a slapshot through traffic to defeat goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. Rearguard Joel Edmundson and forward Christian Dvorak collected assists on the goal. Montreal's special units continued to struggle as the Habs went 0-for-5 on the man advantage while conceding a goal on Tampa Bay's lone power play. Jake Allen kept his team in the game, making 34 saves in the loss.

2.The Panthers are hoping that an extended holiday break will allow them to put an end to their own three-game losing skid. Florida and Montreal have played the same number of games (35) and currently sit sixth and eighth in the Atlantic Division, respectively. Paul Maurice's squad has struggled to produce offensively this season as they rank 10th in scoring in the Eastern Conference with 114 goals. Defensively, they have been scored on 120 times and sit 14th in the East. Matthew Tkachuk (40), Carter Verhaeghe (28), and Brandon Montour (27) are the Panthers' top-three scorers. Florida has dealt with their fair share of injuries as well. Of note, defenseman Aaron Ekblad is listed as day-to-day after sustaining an upper-body injury on December 23 against the New York Islanders, while captain Aleksander Barkov (lower body) has been day-to-day since December 19 but could return to play against the Habs. In net, the Panthers have relied on veteran Sergei Bobrovsky and rookie Spencer Knight, with the former starting in 20 games and the latter in 15. Together, they have maintained an average save percentage of .901 and goals-against-average of 3.13 to date.
3. While head coach Martin St-Louis has yet to announce his starting lineup, it is likely that Sam Montembeault will get the nod between the pipes. The netminder was a 2015 third-round pick by the Panthers and featured in 25 games for the Cats.
4.The Canadiens will certainly look to improve upon their performance in back-to-back sets this season. The Habs have played in five sets of consecutive games, winning one in November against Detroit (3-2 SO) and Vancouver (5-2), splitting two, and losing two others.
5.Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Catch all the action on TV on TSN2 and RDS, and on the radio on TSN 690 and 98,5 fm.