Panthers score 4 in 3rd, cruise past Canadiens

Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves for Florida (14-7-2), which was 1-2-1 in its previous four games.

Johnathan Kovacevic scored, and Cayden Primeau made 24 saves for Montreal (10-11-2), which had won three of four to end a five-game (3-2-0) road trip, including a 4-2 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.

Barkov put the Panthers up 1-0 at 7:07 of the second period when he shot under Primeau’s glove from the left face-off circle on a 2-on-1 after intercepting Gustav Lindstrom’s pass inside the Panthers’ zone.

Bennett made it 2-0 when he scored eight seconds into the third period on a wrist shot past Primeau’s glove from the left face-off circle.

Rodrigues increased the lead to 3-0 at 3:12 with another shot past Primeau’s glove into the top right corner.

Verhaeghe pushed it to 4-0 at 5:49 on a power play, the fourth straight Florida goal shot past the glove of Primeau.

Kovacevic made it 4-1 at 9:30, but Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored on a slap shot with 11 seconds remaining for the 5-1 final.

Canadiens forward Alex Newhook left early in the third period after crashing into the net. He favored his left leg as he was helped off the ice and did not return.