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Recap: Panthers return with gritty 3-0 shutout win over Senators

Posted on by Todd Little

Mason Marchment and Patric Hornqvist each scored a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 18 shots faced in the Florida Panthers 3-0 blanking of the Ottawa Senators at FLA Live Arena.

The win, coupled with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, put the Cats back on top of the Atlantic Division.

Marchment opened the scoring at the 10:04 mark of the first with Erik Brannstrom serving a double-minor for hi-sticking Anton Lundell. The Panthers were applying tons of pressure and finally cashed in when Sam Bennett’s shot was tipped on goal by Hornqvist and Marchment crashed the crease and knocked the puck over the line with his skate.

The goal survived a lengthy review and came shortly after Bobrovsky stoned Connor Brown on a shorthanded breakaway and then denied Alex Formenton on the rebound.

Ottawa was assessed another penalty for the unsuccessful challenge and Brown would break in on Bobrovsky two-men down with the same result, another big save for veteran keeper.

Anton Forsberg, who finished with 45 stops, kept the game came close until the 3:09 mark of the third, when Hornqvist swiped in the rebound of a Marchment shot, who was following up Brandon Montour’s drive from the right point that again struck Hornqvist, who smartly pushed it over to his fellow wing. It was Florida’s second power play conversion of the night.

Ryan Lomberg would get behind former Panther Josh Brown to push in another rebound twelve seconds later. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Eetu Luostarinen dished over to Frank Vatrano after Gustav Forsling’s shot was blocked and Forsberg couldn’t handle The Tank’s salvo, allowing the Lomberghini to park the puck in the net for his fifth of the season.

The Cats would cruise the rest of the way to snap their three-game losing streak and avenge  it’s 8-2 loss to Ottawa earlier this season. Florida benefitted from its four-day break and would not be denied in this one, out-shooting the Senators 48-18, Lucas Carlsson was the only Panthers skater to not have a shot on goal, and hungrily hunting down rebounds to hit 77 points, one more than the Bolts, who hold a game in hand, and three better than the idle Toronto Maple Leafs. This would have been a rout if not for the play of Forsberg and the Cats being a little bit off on hitting the net. That’s 36 wins, normalcy has returned, all is well…

Law & Order

  • Mason Marchment’s goal and assist were his first two points on the power play of his 66-game NHL career.
  • Jonathan Huberdeau had his 10-game assist streak come to a halt. Huberdeau piled up 17 points (2G/15A) during the scoring streak.
  • Sergei Bobrovsky posted his second shutout of the season and the 36th of his NHL career. Bobrovsky has notched a league-leading 17 wins at home. Florida is tops in the league with 24 home wins.
  • The Senators racked up a whopping 53 PIM and the Cats went 2-for-9 on the power play.
  • In addition to not finishing his two shorthanded breakaways, Connor Brown also hit the post in the first period. Brown led Ottawa with four shots on goal.
  • First Star Patric Hornqvist and Sam Bennett each had a game-high six shots on goal.
  • For more on the return of the Cats, surf over to Silver Seven./

Video Recap

Talking Points