Florida's went 3-for-6 on the power play against Montreal in a 7-2 win at home Dec. 29.
"They changed the penalty kill between the two games that we played because we put three up on them that night," Maurice said. "And I would say they were quite a bit more passive in the first game, and then they went to a very aggressive kill. And so, our power play didn't look good almost until it scored. And that, it's by design by the PK team.
"They put an awful lot of pressure on you, knocking pucks down and breaking the puck out more that we want to. But we were then able to kind of stay in and make the right play to the net and get the shot tipped and the seam play and things happened."
Pitlick made it 5-1 at 2:12 of the third period when he scored on a wrist shot from a sharp angle.
Josh Anderson cut it to 5-2 at 8:06 on a one-timer from the left side before Ryan Lomberg scored at 9:11 for the 6-2 final.
"We didn't like our second period at all, and being down that many, you've got to do something about it," Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. "And the guys did a good job of being physical, getting in their face. We got two goals there pretty quick and it's good we battled back, but it was just not a good enough second period by us, and we know we can't take that many penalties."
NOTES:The Panthers also tied their record for most power-play goals in a period, set Dec. 9, 1998, when Viktor Kozlov scored two of four first-period power-play goals in a 6-5 win against the Ottawa Senators. ... Florida forward Eric Staal left the game at 18:21 of the first with a lower-body injury after he was hit by Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson. Maurice said Staal and Bobrovsky would be reevaluated Friday. … Patrick Chevrefils got dressed as an emergency backup goalie for the Panthers.