Canadiens 4, Panthers 1
Alex Galchenyuk scored his first NHL goal and Andrei Markov scored twice on the power play to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal and Carey Price made 27 saves as the Canadiens bounced back from a 2-1 loss to Toronto in Saturday's season opener.
Tomas Kopecky scored his first goal of the season for Florida, which lost in 4-0 in Ottawa on Monday.
Scott Clemmensen stopped 29 shots.
Galchenyuk jumped into the glass in the corner and the sold-out Bell Centre crowd of 21,273 roared its approval after the 18-year-old rookie deflected Brandon Prust's shot past Clemmensen for Montreal's fourth goal 14:25 into the second.
Brendan Gallagher made his NHL debut and drew an assist on the goal by Galchenyuk, who was chosen third overall by the Canadiens in the June 2012 draft.
Markov, who was limited to 20 games over the last two seasons by knee injuries, scored on a slap shot from the slot on a 5-on-3 advantage 13:24 into the first for his first goal since Nov. 9, 2010. He drove a one-timer past Clemmensen for his second goal of the game 8:31 into the second, which put Montreal up 3-1.
Plekanec opened the scoring when he drove the middle to take Brian Gionta's pass before beating Clemmensen with a shot into the left side of the net 3:26 in.
Kopecky's power-play goal 4:33 into the second briefly drew Florida within 2-1.
The Panthers were outscored 8-1 in their quick two-game Canadian trip after opening the season with a 5-1 win over Carolina on Saturday.
NOTES: Panthers RW Alex Kovalev had 103 goals and 161 assists for 264 points in 314 games with Montreal from 2004-09. ... Florida captain Ed Jovanovski did not dress for the game. ... Panthers D Brian Campbell was called for holding 12:01 into the first. Campbell had just three minor penalties while playing all 82 games last season with Florida. He also had only three minors in 65 games with Chicago in 2010-11. ... Canadiens coach Michel Therrien left C Lars Eller out of the lineup. ... Montreal RW Brendan Gallagher made his NHL debut. He played on a line with LW Brandon Prust and 18-year-old rookie Alex Galchenyuk, who shifted to center. Galchenyuk, who was drafted third overall by the Canadiens in the June 2012 draft, played left wing in his first game on Saturday.
