The Florida Panthers lost 5-2 to the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. Florida loses critical points in their push for the playoffs, now sitting three points out. Meanwhile, Ottawa gains critical points, being now only five points out. Both teams have eight games left to climb into a wild card spot.
Game Recap
The Panthers started the game strong, but momentum would shift with an early Marc Staal penalty. Florida found success killing the penalty, but soon after Brady Tkachuk tucked away the first goal of the game. The Senators forward scored from a one-timer for the 1-0 lead. Later in the period, Ottawa gained another power play. This time they would be successful, as Erik Brannstrom scored to push the lead to two. At the end of the period, the Panthers got a chance with a man advantage, but they could not capitalize.
The second period saw some early hope for Florida. Reinhart banked the puck off the boards to Forsling, who fired a slapshot towards the net to make it 2-1. The Cats built some momentum throughout the second period but lost it prior to intermission. Eetu Luostarinen was sent to the penalty box for tripping Travis Hamonic. The Senators would not let this late chance go to waste, scoring with 37.3 seconds left. DeBrincat pushed the score to 3-1 off a tic-tac-toe one-timer goal. Despite dominating the middle frame, Florida failed to make progress in closing in on Ottawa.
With one last period to gain some points, the Panthers started strong. This included a power play, but they could not find the back of the net. Although the power play was unsuccessful, the momentum stuck. Halfway into the third, Gustav Forsling scored another one-timer to bring Florida within one. The Cats continued to pile on the pressure, but a late Anton Lundell penalty put an end to their push. Tim Stützle capitalized with just over two minutes remaining on another power play goal for the Sens. Down 4-2, Florida pulled their goalie in hopes of making a late comeback. Shane Pinto, however, would seal the deal with an empty net goal, to propel Ottawa to a 5-2 victory.
FL Teams Star of the Game
Despite losing 5-2, Gustav Forsling scored two goals to record the highest goal-scoring season of his career (12 goals). Not only did he provide goals, but he also held a +2 goal differential through 23:41 of ice time. Forsling shined in a rough night for the South Florida team.
Up Next
Florida continues on their trip through Canada, facing the playoff-bound Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. The game will take place at Scotiabank Arena with puck drop set for 7:30 PM EST.