In Montreal, the visiting Florida Panthers find themselves in a swoon with less than a d10 games left on the schedule. 
On Tuesday night, the Canadiens handed the Panthers a 5-2 loss, their fourth in the last five, and eighth of 10.
Sam Montembeault made 37 saves in the win.
Montreal moved to 29-33-12.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead on a strike by Anton Lundell midway through the first period, scoring after collected a loose puck on the left side and scoring from the slot.
The Canadiens replied with a marker from Joel Armia at 10:12 to tie it, 1-1, scoring with a wrister from from the left circle.
The Panthers reclaimed the lead, 2-1, on a strike by Alexander Barkov at 13:13. He pushed to the net with the puck and scored off a backhand.
“I think we gave way too many chances to them to score,” Barkov said. “They’re a high-skill team, a fast team. They got what they wanted, so they scored the goals. We just couldn’t keep the puck out of the net, so we obviously need to be better than that.”
The Panthers dropped to 47-24-5.
“I think they were a little quicker than we were as the game went on in the second period,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I liked the first. I liked the way we played and moved with the puck. We served up that second goal, and it hurts us right now a little bit more.”
Nick Suzuki, who hit for a double in the game, picked up his first at 5:58 of the middle frame, scoring off a wrist shot from the slot.
“They had our number last year and earlier this year, so it’s nice to beat them,” Suzuki said. “Obviously, they’re on a back-to-back and short-handed a bit, but we played a good game and it’s nice to come out with the win.”
Suzuki collected his double off a power play strike at 12:24 to give the Habs a 3-2 lead, scoring off a deflection of a shot from the point.
With 33 seconds gone in the third period, Montreal’s Cole Caufield extended the advantage to 4-2, scoring off a slam dunk at the crease.
“We’ve kind of been close to these guys these past couple of games, and we’re trying to bring the game that they play to them earlier than they do to us,” Caufield said. “So, it’s good to get over that hump and hopefully we can keep that going.”
The Canadiens scored a shorthanded goal at 4:34 of the third when Jake Evans scored off a wrister to make it 5-2 to the Canadiens.
The Panthers’ Sam Bennett hit for a shorthanded goal at 18:43 of the third for the 5-3 final. 
Anthony Stolarz made 34 saves in the loss.
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