The Panthers, who play seven of their next eight games on the road, trail the New Jersey Devils by five points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East and are six points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild card. Florida has played three fewer games than New Jersey and Columbus. The Panthers are 9-2-1 in their past 12 games but have lost two of three (1-2-0). Montreal is 18 points behind New Jersey.
Players to watch
Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck has nine points (four goals, five assists) during a six-game point streak. Canadiens goaltender Antti Niemi is 3-1-3 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in his past seven starts.
They said it
"As much as you want help around the League, it's going to be up to us if we're going to get in, and we know we've got to roll and we've got to win a lot of games." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner "What we do this year, we won't have to start from scratch next year. So we're really pushing and we're going to keep coaching and we're going to keep teaching right to the last game." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien
Price will dress for the first time since he sustained a concussion on Feb. 20. … Petrovic returns after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … The Canadiens assigned rookie goalie Charlie Lindgren to Laval of the American Hockey League.
Stat pack
Luongo is 7-2-1 with a 2.76 GAA, .920 save percentage and one shutout in his past 10 starts. … Dadonov (11 goals, 12 assists) and Barkov (seven goals, 16 assists) each have 23 points in their past 17 games. … Galchenyuk has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past 10 games.
