The Florida Panthers may be one of the top teams in the NHL this season, but they’re in a slump, going 3-7-2 in their past 12 games.
However, the four games the playoff-bound Panthers (48-24-6, 102 points) have left in the regular season are all at home in Sunrise, Fla., starting with Tuesday’s meeting with the Ottawa Senators.
The Senators (34-39-4, 72 points) have been eliminated from playoff contention for the seventh straight season.
Ottawa is 0-2-1 against Florida this season. That includes a 3-2 loss in February that was decided by Anton Lundell’s overtime goal.
Panthers center Aleksander Barkov will enter Tuesday on a seven-game scoring streak with five goals and five assists, including a goal in Saturday’s 3-2 road loss to the first-place Boston Bruins in overtime.
The Panthers were missing two key players — forward Carter Verhaeghe and defenseman Aaron Ekblad — due to unspecified injuries. Verhaeghe ranks second on Florida with 33 goals, and Ekblad is third on the team in average time on ice (20:52), trailing only fellow defensemen Brandon Montour (23:19) and Gustav Forsling (22:03).
Coach Paul Maurice was optimistic about the home stretch.
“We need the two days off we got coming, rest, and then some of it’s fine-tuning,” Maurice said. “I like the lines the way they are, I think there’s some good chemistry, I think there’s some good speed so I’m pretty happy with how the structure’s coming together.”
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who took the loss against Boston, has a 2.43 goals-against average. He is tied for the lead among Eastern Conference goalies in wins (34-17-4).
It’s possible the Panthers turn to backup goalie Anthony Stolarz on Tuesday. He is 14-7-2 with a 2.12 GAA.
Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers in points (90) and entered the week ranked second in the NHL in goals (53). Matthew Tkachuk, who has 25 goals, leads the Panthers in assists (59).
Despite being out of the race, the Senators have been playing good hockey over their past nine games, going 6-3-0. Two of those losses were by one goal.
On Sunday night, the Senators upset the host Washington Capitals 3-2 on defenseman Jake Sanderson’s goal 41 seconds into overtime.
“Just possessing the puck a little bit,” Sanderson said. “I saw (teammate Brady Tkachuk) was going to screen the goalie. I shot the puck off his back, and the goalie didn’t see it.”
Rookie forward Ridly Greig had one goal and one assist as he continues to play well in his first full season. He has 13 goals, tied for seventh on the team.
Brady Tkachuk leads Ottawa in goals (34), and his 68 points ranks second on the squad.
Tim Stutzle, who leads the Senators in assists (52) and points (70), missed Sunday’s game due to an upper-body injury.
Five other Senators missed Sunday’s game, including second-line center Josh Norris and third-pair defenseman Travis Hamonic.
Ottawa splits its goalie duties between Joonas Korpisalo (20-24-4, 3.27 GAA) and Anton Forsberg (13-12-0, 3.36 GAA).
There are two key family connections in Tuesday’s game, including the Tkachuk brothers. Matthew has scored more points than his brother this year, but Brady has the lead in goals.
In addition, there’s Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun (13 goals), whose father, Jeff, played eight seasons in the NHL and is now a Panthers broadcaster.
–Field Level Media
