The Florida Panthers first road game of the season was unsuccessful as new goaltender Linus Ullmark made 30 saves to backstop the Ottawa Senators to a 3-1 victory at Canadian Tire Center.
After Niko Mikkola took a high-sticking penalty at the 4:52 mark, Tim Stützle opened the scoring exactly one minute later. After moving the puck around the periphery, Josh Norris passed to Stützle and he skated in from the right point and snapped a shot by a screened Sergei Bobrovksy from above the circle. The second helper on the power-play goal went to Jake Sanderson. In addition to his assist, Sanderson blocked seven shots.
Shane Pinto doubled Ottawa’s lead 4:50 later when he decided to shoot on a 2-on-1 break with David Perron and beat Bobrovksy with a wrister from the right circle. The break was triggered when Matt Tkachuk’s pass hopped over Dmitry Kulikov’s stick. Unlucky…
After getting outplayed in the first period, the Cats leveled the ice in the middle frame and finally got on the board with 4:12 to go when Sam Bennett took a tip pass from Tkachuk and sent the puck back to Gustav Forsling at the left point. Forsling unleashed a slapper that found the twine with Tkachuk screening in front.
The Panthers threw the kitchen sink at Ullmark in the third, pelting him with 16 shots to no avail as the former Bruin earned himself First Star honors in his Senators debut.
Stützle would ice the game by tracking down Brady Tkachuk’s flip pass after Aleksander Barkov’s stick exploded and scoring into the empty net.
Barkov tried his best to prevent the goal, probably not the best idea with no stick, but ended up crashing into the end boards and needed assistance getting off the ice as he couldn’t put any weight on his right leg.
This was a tough one for the Panthers as the Senators came out hot in their season-opener in front of a raucous crowd and Florida was unable to match their intensity. Eventually, the Cats got to their game, but Ullmark made quality save after quality to keep his team ahead.
The Panthers will shuffle off to Buffalo with a 1-1 record and hope that the news on Barkov isn’t too bad.
Law & Order
- Tim Stützle was named Second Star for his two-goal performance. Stützle logged 19:57 TOI, had three shots on goal and blocked a shot.
- After going for 0-for-6 against the Bruins their season-opener, the Panthers failed on both of their power-play chances against the Senators.
- Former Panther Nick Cousins was credited with four hits and a blocked shot while playing 12:09 against his old team.
- Sergei Bobrovsky settled down after getting beaten twice in the first 10:42 and finished the game with 28 saves.
- Sam Bennett, Anton Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe. Matt Tkachuk each had four shots on goal in the loss.