Canadiens rally late, edge Panthers in shootout to gain in Atlantic

MONTREAL -- Nick Suzuki scored the game-tying goal with 21 seconds remaining in the third period, and the Montreal Canadiens moved into a three-way tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-3 shootout win against the Florida Panthers at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Lane Hutson skated into the zone on an individual rush, pulled Daniil Tarasov out of position and passed back out front to Suzuki, who scored into the open net to tie it 3-3.

“Oh, it was nasty,” Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov said. “I was thinking he was going to finish by himself, but he finds ‘Suzy’ net front, and it was pretty sick.”

Suzuki has an NHL career-high 96 points (28 goals, 68 assists) in 78 games, tying Pierre Turgeon (1995-96) for the most in a season by a Canadiens player since Vincent Damphousse had 97 points in 1992-93.

“It was a (heck) of a play there to take it by himself and create something late,” Suzuki said. “(Hutson) made a lot of great plays tonight, and that was an amazing play by him there to set me up.”

Demidov and Phillip Danault also scored, Juraj Slafkovsky had two assists, and Jakub Dobes made 30 saves for Montreal (46-22-10), which was coming off a 3-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday that ended an eight-game winning streak.

Montreal is tied in points (102) for first in the Atlantic with the idle Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost 6-2 at the Ottawa Senators on Monday. If the season ended today, the Lightning would be the No. 1 seed, and the Sabres would be the No. 2 seed based on tiebreakers.

“We showed a lot of character,” Danault said. “Obviously, it wasn’t our best game structure-wise, but we found a way. We’ve done that a lot this year, actually, come back from behind, and that’s one of our strengths going toward the playoffs. But we definitely have to come out stronger every game.”

Carter Verhaeghe scored his 25th goal of the season, Eetu Luostarinen and Cole Reinhardt also scored, and Tarasov made 29 saves for Florida (37-37-4), which has lost three in a row (0-2-1).

“I liked the way we played tonight,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We played hard, defended hard, battled. Things weren’t easy for us in terms of some of the puck movement we wanted to do. You know, great energy on the bench. Yeah, I’ve got no complaints with the way we played tonight.”

The Panthers played without forward Matthew Tkachuk, who returned to Florida to be with his wife for the birth of the couple’s first child. Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov then left the game in the third period after sustaining a season-ending broken finger.

“It’s just unbelievable what these guys have been through,” Maurice said.

Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 9:23 of the first period. Defenseman Donovan Sebrango skated end to end before putting a shot on net from the high slot. Dobes made the initial save, but the rebound kicked out into the left circle, where Verhaeghe quickly buried it short side.

Demidov tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal 54 seconds into the second period. He scored on a one-timer from the top of the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Cole Caufield.

The 20-year-old Russian forward leads all rookies with 61 points (18 goals, 43 assists) in 78 games.

“He was probably our best player tonight,” Suzuki said. “He’s creating stuff out of nothing. He’s learning the game, what to do against other teams, how he can be effective. You see him in transition, he’s really tough to stop. I thought he was really good tonight.”

Reinhardt put Florida ahead 2-1 at 13:43. He skated into a loose puck in front of Arber Xhekaj, cut to his left as he drove in on Dobes, and banked the puck in off the left pad of the sprawled goaltender.

“He’s adapted his game to the way we want to play,” Maurice said. “And it does suit him. He can get there, he can get on the body, and he’s found his way to the back of the net a couple of times. So, good for him.”

Danault tied it 2-2 at 6:22 of the third period when he got to a loose puck in the slot and scored under Tarasov's glove with a wrist shot through traffic.

Luostarinen gave the Panthers their third lead of the game at 7:49. He redirected Gustav Forsling's shot from the left point to make it 3-2.

“I think, all things considered, it was a solid game,” Luostarinen said. “Obviously, a tough ending, but I don’t think it was a bad game at all.”

NOTES: Hutson has 75 points (12 goals, 63 assists) in 78 games, tying Guy Lapointe (1974-75) and Larry Robinson (1979-80) for the fourth-most in a season by a Canadiens defenseman. ... Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher was a healthy scratch for the second time this season. Prior to this season, he had never been a healthy scratch since making his NHL debut on Jan. 22, 2013.