Montreal @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 19, 2019 ) Florida 4, Montreal 5

The Florida Panthers are moving up the Atlantic Division ladder as they host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday. The clubs played a pair of 5-4 games Saturday with Florida erasing a two-goal deficit to defeat Detroit and Montreal blowing a two-goal lead and falling at Tampa Bay.

The Panthers moved into third place in the Atlantic - one point ahead of the Canadiens and Lightning - with their fourth victory in five contests. Montreal is in the midst of playing seven consecutive road games - split into two trips sandwiched around the Christmas break - after going 3-1-0 trek through Western Canada. Canadiens center Max Domi is heating up by scoring in four straight games, giving him 10 goals this season. Sunday's contest features a pair of hot power plays as Florida has scored with the man advantage in five straight contests (7-for-19) while Montreal has one in three consecutive games and is 5-for-9 in its last five.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, RDS (Montreal), FS Florida

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (18-14-6): Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the third overall pick in the 2018 draft, scored Saturday in his first game since missing eight with a concussion. Tomas Tatar (team-high 33 points) had an assist versus Tampa Bay while Brendan Gallagher (32) recorded a pair. Carey Price is expected to be in goal again Sunday after making 25 saves Saturday and is 12-6-3 with a 1.81 goals-against average and .939 save percentage versus the Panthers.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (19-13-5): Mike Hoffman (27 points) recorded his second three-point game of the season with a goal and two assists versus Detroit. Aleksander Barkov (42 points) had a pair of assists Saturday, giving him five in the last four games. Sergei Bobrovsky will return to the net Sunday after backup Chris Driedger improved to 3-1-0 in his career by making 35 saves versus Detroit.

OVERTIME

1. Montreal had yielded one power-play goal in six straight games before Tampa Bay went 0-for-1 on Saturday.

2. Florida D Aaron Ekblad (team-high plus-15 rating) will miss his second straight game Sunday with a shoulder injury.

3. The Canadiens won three of four meetings last season with Tatar and Domi scoring four goals apiece.

PREDICTION: Panthers 3, Canadiens 2