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Final Score: Florida 1 - Montreal 4

Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Jaroslav Halak stopped 23 shots to help the Montreal Canadiens take a 4-1 decision over the Florida Panthers at Bell Centre.

Brian Gionta had two goals while Tomas Plekanec and Benoit Pouliot each lit the lamp for the Canadiens, who snapped a three-game slide.

The win gives Montreal 82 points on the season and a two-point lead over Philadelphia for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference, one-point behind idle Ottawa for the fifth position.

Radek Dvorak scored the lone goal while Tomas Vokoun was charged with two goals on 29 shots for the Panthers, who have dropped four of their last six.

Sitting at 71 points, Florida is seven points back of Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with nine games to play.

Early in the second period, Florida left wing David Booth was leveled by Jaroslav Spacek with an open-ice, head-on shoulder check to the head. Booth was later helped off the ice and taken to Montreal General Hospital. No penalty was called on the play. Booth sat out 45 games earlier in the season due to a concussion suffered on a hit from Philadelphia's Mike Richards.

"I tried to step up on the blueline and he kind of got the puck on a long pass," said Spacek. "He kind of turned and he was kind of low. When he turned, I was right there. I tried to go low and away from him, but he hit me with a high speed. I had good balance and I guess I hit him in a bad spot. I would say it was a clean hit, he hit my shoulder as he was reaching for the pass and reaching low."

Earlier Thursday, the National Hockey League Players Association gave its approval to the NHL's new rule to prohibit hits to the head.

"He's in the hospital now and they're doing some tests," said Florida general manager Randy Sexton. "He's coherent, he's clear, he's alert. We won't have any other comment or details until we get all the facts back from the tests. On the positive front, he appears to be very alert and well. He cut his nose and has minor scrapes on his face, but they're minor in nature compared to the possibility of another head injury."

Montreal drew first blood at the 12:40 mark of the first period. A Montreal pass was intercepted in the Florida end, but an attempted clear was picked off by Pouliot, who quickly lifted a backhander into the net.

Gionta then made it a 2-0 game with 3:22 to play in the first as his slap shot beat Vokoun.

A scoreless second period saw Vokoun stop eight shots and Halak turn aside seven.

With 3:36 to play in the third, the Panthers made it a 2-1 game as Keith Ballard sent a lead pass from the right circle to the low slot where Dvorak, who was just behind the defense, redirected it into the net.

Florida pulled Vokoun with less than two minutes to play, but Plekanec put the puck into the open net with 1:24 to play. Gionta's second goal of the game in the final moments was also an empty-netter to account for the final score.