Florida Panthers (42-14-6, first in the Atlantic) vs. Montreal Canadiens (17-36-10, eighth in the Atlantic)
Montreal; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Jonathan Huberdeau leads Florida into a matchup with Montreal. He's third in the league with 86 points, scoring 21 goals and recording 65 assists.
The Canadiens are 6-8-3 against the rest of their division. Montreal averages 10.2 penalty minutes per game, the third-most in the Eastern Conference. Michael Pezzetta leads the team serving 68 total minutes.
The Panthers are 25-6-3 in conference games. Florida leads the Eastern Conference with 47 power-play goals, led by Aleksander Barkov with nine.
In their last meeting on Jan. 1, Florida won 5-2. Sam Bennett scored a team-high two goals for the Panthers in the victory.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nick Suzuki leads the Canadiens with 17 goals and has 46 points. Cole Caufield has 12 points over the last 10 games for Montreal.
Barkov leads the Panthers with 26 goals and has 62 points. Sam Reinhart has five goals and six assists over the last 10 games for Florida.
LAST 10 GAMES: Canadiens: 4-3-3, averaging 3.7 goals, 6.1 assists, 4.2 penalties and 8.7 penalty minutes while giving up 3.7 goals per game with an .884 save percentage.
Panthers: 7-2-1, averaging 3.9 goals, 6.9 assists, 4.5 penalties and 11.8 penalty minutes while allowing 2.1 goals per game with a .924 save percentage.
INJURIES: Canadiens: Brendan Gallagher: day to day (illness).
Panthers: Jonas Johansson: out (covid-19), Anton Lundell: day to day (lower body), Markus Nutivaara: out (undisclosed).
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