Nick Suzuki scored a power-play goal at 3:24 of overtime and the Montreal Canadiens fought back from two goals down in the final five minutes of regulation to beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Suzuki also scored late in the regular season to tie the game for the Canadiens, who improved to six wins, one draw and three losses in their last 10 games. Cole Caufield also scored for Montreal.
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Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart scored for Florida, but Marchand was fouled for roughing 1:27 into overtime, giving Montreal a 4-on-3 advantage.
The Panthers honored Marchand’s 1,000th career point during a pregame ceremony. Marchand scored the milestone in mid-November, but he chose this game as the official celebration — against Montreal, one of his longtime rivals in Boston and a team coached by one of his idols, Martin St. Louis.
The game was scoreless after two periods, the 11th such game in the NHL this season and the first for the Panthers and Canadiens. It was the first time since February 14, 2013 that Florida State’s game against Montreal went without a goal in the first 40 minutes, with the Canadiens winning 1-0 on the road.
But the last 10 minutes were crazy.
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Marchand opened the scoring at 10:18, and Reinhart scored twice with 4:59 left to give Florida a 2-0 lead. Montreal came back, with Caulfield scoring 32 seconds after Reinhart and Suzuki tying the game with 1:22 left.
This is the final game of 2025 for both teams. Montreal’s 21 wins before New Year’s Day are the most since 21 wins at this point in the 2018-19 season. Florida State has appeared in the past three Stanley Cup Finals, winning the last two. Florida State is playing its 106th game this year, marking the third straight year the Panthers have topped 100 games.
Next
Canadiens: Visit Carolina on Thursday.
Panthers: Host the New York Rangers in the Winter Classic on Friday in Miami.