Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo makes a save against Montreal Canadiens centre Jonathan Drouin during the second period of a game at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Que., on Sept. 19, 2018.Jean-Yves Ahern/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Evgenii Dadonov and Jared McCann each scored twice as the Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Wednesday in NHL preseason action.
Nick Bjugstad added an empty-net goal for Florida. Roberto Luongo played the first two periods, making 20 saves on 21 shots. His replacement, Michael Hutchinson, stopped 11-of-12 shots in the third period.
Matthew Peca and Nikita Scherbak scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price played the first half of the game, stopping 20 of 22 shots. Antti Niemi made 16 saves on 18 shots in relief.
The Panthers dressed several of their NHL regulars, including Aleksander Barkov, Mike Hoffman, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aaron Ekblad.
Montreal’s lineup featured a large number of prospects.
Winger Max Domi, who was acquired in the off-season trade that sent Alex Galchenyuk to Arizona, got a match penalty in the third period for a bare-handed sucker punch on Ekblad.
With his father watching from the stands – notorious enforcer Tie Domi – the 23-year-old Max sent a bloodied Ekblad to the ice with a punch right on the nose.
Domi was given a minor, major and match penalty on the play.
Dadonov scored his first of the game at 4:32 of the first period on an odd-man rush for the Panthers.
The 29-year-old Russian added his second at 11:07, on the power play, shortly after a shot from Mike Hoffman was blocked in front of goal.
Peca cut the deficit in half with a power-play marker of his own at 13:19. The centreman, making his first preseason appearance as a Canadien, was lucky to have his shot bounce off two Florida players’ skates and in past Luongo.
Also making his Habs preseason debut, newly added centre Nick Suzuki got an assist on Peca’s goal.
After a scoreless second, McCann made it 3-1 at 10:57 of the third period after driving hard to the net and cashing in his own rebound. The 2014 first-round draft pick added his second exactly two minutes later.
Scherbak got one back for Montreal at 15:58 before Bjugstad scored in the empty net with 52 seconds left in the game.
The Canadiens won their first preseason game 3-1 against a split New Jersey Devil squad on Monday. Florida’s split team lost both their opening games Monday to the Nashville Predators.
Notes: Barkov became Florida’s 10th captain in franchise history earlier this week.