SUNRISE, Fla. -- Making a comeback they have only pulled off two other times in franchise history, the Florida Panthers were able to accomplish a season's feat they have never previously reached.

A fierce rally from a 3-0 deficit, the first for the franchise since November 2011, catapulted the Panthers to a franchise-record 44th victory this season and kept them atop the Atlantic Division.

Aleksander Barkov scored four points, including the game-winning goal with 28.1 seconds left, as the Panthers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Saturday night at BB&T Center.

The Panthers (44-25-9) remain two points in front of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won at home against the New Jersey Devils, in the Atlantic. They drew closer to clinching a playoff berth.

The Canadiens (36-37-6), already eliminated from playoff contention, could not follow up their 3-0 Thursday night victory in Tampa Bay with another win in Florida.

Jonathan Huberdeau, extending his goal streak to five games, tied it 3-3 with a power-play goal with 7:43 remaining.

"I'm glad I did," said the Quebec native when asked postgame about breaking hearts of his hometown fans. "I guess it's going in. It was a nice pass by [Nick Bjugstad] backdoor. I think our line is playing hard."

Florida outshot Montreal 17-8 in the final period.

The top Florida line has responded well in the absence of Vincent Trocheck, who was ruled out for the remainder of the regular season two games ago.

"That's our job -- to score -- and I feel like we've got enough talent to do it. Vinny's out and he's a big part of our hockey game. We truly miss him," said Jaromir Jagr, now on a five-game point streak. "Right now we just somehow find a way to win without him, but it's going to get tougher and tougher, especially in the playoffs, so I hope he's going to come back."

Goaltender Roberto Luongo had 24 saves, including some critical ones in the third, while rookie Habs netminder Mike Crondon saved 35 shots.

Panthers coach Gerard Gallant summed up the two sides to the comeback.

"It looked like we didn't think it was a game till 8 o'clock, so we woke up and started playing real well," Gallant said. "It concerns every coach and every coach talks about it all the time, but I'd rather be a good third-period team than a first-period team if I had the choice."

Brendan Gallagher struck first for the Canadiens midway through the first period, one-timing a pass from Joel Hanley past Luongo. Max Pacioretty added to his team lead in points with the secondary assist.

"I thought [Gallagher] had a lot of energy tonight. He's a top-two line player," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said.

Montreal nearly took a two-goal lead before the first intermission when a Gallagher shot was deflected in by Andrei Markov, but a challenge from Gallant revealed the Canadiens were offside on the play.

The Canadiens, however, scored a pair of quick second-period goals separated by just more than a minute of action to take a 3-0 advantage.

No one was offside when David Desharnais converted a two-on-one opportunity off a swift pass from Paul Byron, and Torrey Mitchell deflected one in from in close to put the Canadiens up three.

Tomas Plekanec had the secondary assist on Mitchell's goal to tie Plekanec with Claude Provost for 18th on the club's all-time list.

Florida got those two goals back before the second intermission with a pair of goals – one from Barkov and another that nipped Jagr and found the net off a Barkov shot. Barkov joined Trocheck and Jagr as the third Panther with at least 25 goals this season.

Therrien acknowledged his defense began to show fatigue at that point.

"I understand we ask too much of our defensive group – too much ice time," Therrien said. "They do what they can, but on that line with Barkov, you need to go on the ice and have full energy. If you don't have that full energy, they're going to beat you."

The Canadiens will host the Panthers in Montreal on Tuesday. Florida first makes a stop in Toronto on Monday to face the Maple Leafs.

NOTES: Panthers RW Jaromir Jagr was nominated for the Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy for a player who "best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication" to the game. ... Canadiens G Carey Price, last season's Hart Trophy winner who hasn't played since Nov. 25 because of a lower-body injury, returned to practice Thursday, and told SportsNet that he hopes to return before season's end but will be ready for next season regardless. ... Panthers D Brian Campbell is one game from tying Olli Jokinen's franchise record for consecutive games played (373) after playing Saturday. ... Canadiens D Brett Lernout took D Nathan Beaulieu's spot in the lineup after Beaulieu sustained a season-ending broken thumb on Thursday. ... Panthers RW Logan Shaw was sent back to AHL affiliate Portland on Friday. ... Canadiens LW Daniel Carr jumped into LW Michael McCarron's spot. ... Panthers scratches were D Alex Petrovic, C Vincent Trocheck, LW Garrett Wilson and C Greg McKegg. ... Canadiens scratches included RW Mike Brown, C Stefan Matteau, LW Jacob De La Rose and D P.K. Subban.