Martin Saint-Louis, the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, firmly believes that he has the true number one center on his team.

This number one center made a difference last Tuesday night as Nick Suzuki scored two goals in the Canadiens' 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre.

The Montreal captain reached the highest level of his career, reaching 32 goals and 71 points - becoming the fifth Canadian player to break 70 goals in 25 years.

Saint-Louis said, "As a coach, having a number one center, it's a good feeling to have."

Suzuki also did this while facing one of the best centers in the game, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov.

Canadiens forward Jake Evans said, "He is our leader for a reason." "He stepped up in big moments and led the offense again tonight."

Cole Caufield, Evans, and Joel Armia also scored, while Alex Newhook made two key assists for Montreal (29-33-12) who achieved their fourth win in five games. Sam Montembeault stopped 37 shots.

Barkov, Sam Bennett, and Anton Lundell responded – with a goal and an assist – for Florida (47-24-5) who lost to Montreal for the first time in four meetings this season.

The Panthers headed to the playoffs having suffered losses in eight of their last 10 games.

They are four points behind the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Maurice said, "I'm not worried. We understand what we're in." "The team is a little tense, and we didn't have enough in the tank to show that roar tonight, but they're fine, they'll be okay. Everyone is relaxing."

Florida was missing key forwards Matthew Tkachuk (illness) and Carter Verhaeghe (upper body).

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad also left the game before the second period due to an injury not yet disclosed following skirmishes with Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky late in the first period.

Maurice said the Panthers will provide an update today, Thursday.

He said, "We will take hits, it’s just a part of the schedule, so things will be tough." He added, "We have a great deal of adversity right now, and part of it will be the panic that spreads outside the room about the eight games."