Takeaways as Florida Panthers dominate Ottawa Senators and things get chippy late
After the Florida Panthers played arguably their worst game of the season on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets, coach Paul Maurice had to like what he saw from his team on Monday.
While the game got heated in the third period, the Panthers played one of their most complete games of the season in a 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre to begin a three-game road trip. Florida improved to 13-7-1. Ottawa falls to 8-9-0.
And while it was a dominant effort, the game nearly got away from both teams late.
A scrum broke out on the ice at the end of the second period after the Panthers went up 3-0 that seemed to be the boiling point.
What followed in the third period: Ottawa’s Zach MacEwen getting a match penalty for elbowing Matthew Tkachuk in the head, Tkachuk fighting Jake Sanderson five minutes after that, a full-on scrum on the ice two minutes later that led to all 10 skaters on the ice being handed game-ending misconduct penalties and another pair of ejections four minutes after that.
In total, 13 players — seven from Ottawa, six from Florida — were ejected or handed misconduct penalties. Ottawa had 84 penalty minutes. Florida had 83 penalty minutes.
Meanwhile, Sam Reinhart scored power-play goals in the first and second periods to move into a tie for the NHL lead with 15 goals, Sam Bennett added a power-play goal of his own in the second, and Carter Verhaeghe and Eetu Luostarinen scored at even strength in the third period to put the game away.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 20 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season, seventh with the Panthers and 40th of his NHL career. It is Brovrovsky’s 370th career win, the 20th-most in NHL history. He did it in 659 games, the fewest needed to get to that mark (previous: Henrik Lundqvist, 672 games).
It’s the first time this season the Panthers have scored three power-plays goals in a game.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Special teams lead the way
In addition to the three power-play goals, the Panthers also went 6 for 6 on the penalty kill, holding Ottawa to just four shots on goal while playing a man down.
It started with Florida killing off a Reinhart double-minor penalty for a high stick midway through the first period. The Panthers continued their success with an easy kill with Gustav Forsling in the box early in the second period for tripping. And then Florida killed off three penalties in the third — albeit two of those kills were abbreviated kills.
Overall, the Panthers are a perfect 14 for 14 on the penalty kill over the past four games.
More Aleksander Barkov milestones
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov logged his 400th career assist with his secondary helper on Reinhart’s power-play goal in the first period. He then logged assist No. 401 on Reinhart’s second goal and No. 402 on Bennett’s power-play goal.
His 192 career power-play points are the most in Panthers franchise history.
“Hopefully there’s gonna be many more of those,” Barkov said on the Bally Sports Florida broadcast during the first intermission. “Of course it’s nice. I’m not going to lie. It’s nice to get those milestones — any milestone — but it’s more special playing for the Panthers my whole career. Getting those milestones is unreal for me. I’m enjoying every second.”
Monday marked Barkov’s 13th career three-assist game and the third time in his NHL career that he logged three points on the power play. The other two times came last season: Dec. 29, 2022, against the Boston Bruins and Nov. 23, 2022, against the Boston Bruins.
Barkov is now just 13 assists shy of tying former teammate and good friend Jonathan Huberdeau’s franchise record of 415 assists.
That’s the last major milestone Barkov needs to be on top of every major leaderboard in Panthers franchise history. He already owns the Panthers records for games played (682), goals (249) and points (651).
Can the Florida Panthers sustain the momentum?
The Panthers now need to build on this game as they continue the road trip.
Florida has a quick turnaround playing against Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs before capping this three-game trip in Canada on Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. puck drops.
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