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Sports

Habs take out Panthers

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Sunrise, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Carey Price made 24 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

The win gives Montreal 106 points on the season and moves it two points ahead of Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division with two games to play for both teams.

Tomas Plekanec and Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau both posted a goal and an assist and Brendan Gallagher and Devante Smith-Pelly each added a goal for the Canadiens, who snapped a three-game slide.

"To be honest, it was really a group effort tonight," said Montreal head coach Michel Therrien. "It wasn't a single player effort. Everyone raised their game tonight."

It was Price's 42nd win on the season, and he is now tied with Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden for most in one season by a Montreal goaltender.

Aaron Ekblad had the only goal of the game for the Panthers, who were eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday, and have lost three of four.

"We weren't very good tonight," said Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant. "We checked out. I wasn't happy with the performance. I didn't like our effort. I always talk about finishing hard, but we didn't finish hard tonight."

Montreal opened the scoring in the game with a 5-on-3 goal at 6:36 of the first as Plekanec's attempt at a cross-ice pass from a sharp angle at the right side found its way in for his 24th goal of the season.

Florida tied the game with a power-play goal of its own at 6:20 on Ekblad's 12th of the season, but the Canadiens scored three straight to take over.

P.K. Subban caught up to the puck at the right boards and quickly sent it to the left side where Gallagher one-timed it home at 7:06 of the second.

Just under 4 1/2 minutes later, Parenteau went coast-to-coast, throwing a shot on net as three defenders converged on him and snapping home his own rebound for his eighth of the season.

With 2:18 to play in the second, the Habs made it a 4-1 game after Parenteau stole the puck at the low right circle and passed it to the front where Smith- Pelly one-timed it home.

Price stopped all nine shots he faced in the third to keep Florida from any hopes of a comeback.

Game Notes

Montreal hosts Detroit on Thursday ... Florida hosts Boston on Thursday ... Florida was 1-for-4 on the power play while Boston went 1-for-7 ... Montreal forward Max Pacioretty left the game early in the first after hitting his head against the boards after a check.