Aaron Ekblad, Anton Lundell and Mackie Samoskevich scored power-play goals as the Florida Panthers defeated the Ottawa Senators 6-2 on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla.
It’s the first time since 2002 the Panthers have scored with the man advantage in each of their first three games of a season. In total, Florida has five power-play goals this season.
Florida also got goals from Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
Ottawa got two goals from Shane Pinto, who has four goals in two games. The Senators also got 21 saves from Linus Ullmark. However, Ullmark had two shots slip out of or tip off his glove for goals.
The Panthers played without defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who was placed on injured reserve prior to game time. Kulikov may need surgery on his right arm.
Kulikov is one of four Panthers on injured reserve, joining forwards Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Tomas Nosek.
The Panthers replaced Kulikov in the lineup with Uvis Balinskis.
Florida opened the scoring with 13:52 left in the first period. After a blocked shot, Seth Jones flipped a pass to center ice that was gathered by Marchand for a breakaway. Marchand scored on a forehand-to-backhand move, slipping the puck under the left arm of Ullmark and off the far post.
The Panthers made it 2-0 with 10:06 remaining in the first on a blast by Rodrigues that initially landed in Ullmark’s glove. However, the puck squirted out when Ullmark’s glove hit the ice.
Ottawa got on the board with 2:27 left in the first. The Senators dumped the puck in, but Bobrovsky — who went behind his net — got burned. Ridly Greig pounced on the weak clear attempt and shoveled the puck immediately to Pinto, who scored before Bobrovsky could get set.
Florida extended its lead to 3-1 on Ekblad’s power-play goal from the left circle with just 35 seconds gone in the second. Reinhart screened Ullmark on the play.
The Panthers made it 4-1 with 1:32 left in the second as a Lundell deflection again squirted through Ullmark’s five-hole.
Samoskevich’s top-shelf power-play goal with 14:31 left made it 5-1, and Reinhart’s goal from close range made it 6-1 with 8:46 left in the game.
–Field Level Media
