The Florida Panthers clinched the Atlantic Division with their 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
With the Tampa Bay Lightning falling to the New York Rangers, the win secured the division for Florida. This is the second division title in franchise history for the Panthers, and comes after the team spent the majority of the season at or near the top of the division.
The win also gave Florida 101 points on the year and it also was the team's 46th win of the season, which are both franchise records. Florida sits in third place in the Eastern Conference with a chance to finish as high as the second-seed.
It only took the Panthers ten seconds to take the lead in this one. Aleksander Barkov put home the first goal of the game with an assist from Jaromir Jagr and Jonathan Huberdeau. The score was the 28th of the year for Barkov which leads the team.
After Montreal tied the game up, the Panthers took back the lead right before the second period came to a close. Nick Bjugstad scored for the 15th time this season with a helping hand from Teddy Purcell and Jagr. The goal came during a power play for the Panthers at the 19:47 mark.
Gregg McKegg would add a third goal for Florida at the 8:58 mark of the final period. McKegg's goal which was assisted on by Shawn Thornton and Aaron Ekblad was his second score of the season.
Jiri Hudler's 16th goal of the year came late into the third period and gave Florida a three-goal lead. The score had assists on it from Purcell and Jakub Kindl and came during another Florida power play.
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Roberto Luongo was strong in the net after sitting out Monday's action. Florida's goalie had 32 saves in 33 chances overall.
The Panthers will look for a fifth straight win on Thursday when they travel to Ottawa for a game with the Senators.
