Bergeron, Pouliot score early in 3rd to lift Canadiens to 5-4 win over Panthers

Canadiens top Panthers with big 3rd period

SUNRISE, Fla. — Marc-Andre Bergeron and Benoit Pouliot scored in the first 4½ minutes of the third period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 on Thursday night.

The Canadiens, who haven’t played at home since Dec. 17, won six of seven on their long road trip.

Bergeron scored during Montreal’s 5-on-3 power play to give the Canadiens a 4-3 lead 1:52 into the third. Pouliot stretched the advantage to two goals 2:37 later in front of the Panthers’ first home sellout crowd of the season.

Radek Dvorak cut Florida’s deficit to 5-4 at 6:03.

Andrei Markov added three assists for Montreal, which trailed 2-1 after the first period but went ahead 3-2 in the second. Michael Frolik got the Panthers even heading into the third.

Florida’s Tomas Vokoun made 37 saves in the loss. Jaroslav Halak stopped 32 shots for Montreal.

Frolik forced the third tie at 12:08 of the second period when his wrist shot got past Halak to cap an odd-man rush. It was Frolik’s 12th goal.

After being outplayed through much of the first period, Montreal scored twice in the first 5:20 of the second to take the lead.

Michael Cammalleri, who leads the Canadiens with 20 goals, tied it 2-2 with a blast from inside the right circle that beat Vokoun to the short side on a power play.

Just over 2 minutes later, Tomas Plekanec took advantage of Vokoun being on one knee and scored his 10th goal to give Montreal its first lead.

Keith Ballard put Florida ahead 1-0 lead when he took a perfect feed from Vokoun on the left side and, after putting a spin move on defenseman Josh Gorges, scored a power-play goal 9:19 into the game.

Montreal got even 1-1 at 11:33 when Hal Gill fired a one-timer from the top of the circle that beat Vokoun high to the glove side.

Florida went ahead again less than 4 minutes later when Nathan Horton scored on a breakaway off a pass up ice from Stephen Weiss. Horton raced in untouched from the red line and beat Halak on a backhander with 4:52 left in the period.

Horton also assisted on Frolik’s goal, giving him 28 points in the last 25 games. He has 10 goals in that span.

NOTES: Montreal coach Jacques Martin returned for the first time since he was the Panthers’ general manager in the 2007-08 season. … Vokoun’s assist on Ballard’s goal was the goalie’s first since Oct. 10 against New Jersey. … Montreal went 0-6-1 on its previous seven-game road trip from Dec. 23, 2002, to Jan. 7, 2003.