Panthers contingent participating in 4 Nations Face-Off come up big in win over Senators
The NHL’s focus starting next week will be on the 4 Nations Face-Off, the league’s midseason tournament that will feature the NHL’s top players from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden that is serving as a re-introduction to NHL players participating in best-on-best tournaments.
On Saturday, Florida Panthers representatives for each country came up big in their final game before the two-week break that coincides with the tournament.
One player from each country — the United States’ Matthew Tkachuk, Finland’s Aleksander Barkov, Sweden’s Gustav Forsling and Canada’s Sam Bennett — scored in the second period to lead the Panthers to a 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators at Amerant Bank Arena.
“We had the puck a lot,” Tkachuk said of Florida’s second-period outburst. “We were quick. Everyone was just going up ice as fast as possible. We weren’t over stick handling or trying to make the perfect play. We were just skating hard and being close to and supportive of each other.”
Florida improves to 34-20-3 and has won nine of its past 13 games (including five consecutive games at home) to go into the break atop the Atlantic Division. Ottawa falls to 29-23-4 and has lost three consecutive games.
The Panthers have a league-high eight players participating in the tournament, which runs from Feb. 12-20. Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola are joining Barkov on Team Finland, while Sam Reinhart is on Team Canada with Bennett.
Tkachuk also had the primary assist on two of the Panthers’ second-period goals, giving him three points in the game and 16 points in his past nine games (including four three-point outings) in addition to a six-game goal streak.
Reinhart had the primary assist on Tkachuk’s goal for his 600th career NHL point. Lundell capped scoring with an empty-net goal while Ottawa was on the power play. It was Florida’s 12th shorthanded goal of the season, tying the franchise’s single-season record.
“They’re gearing up for sure,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “They want their game right so they all go in feeling good.”
Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 27 shots he faced, including the final 24 he saw after giving up a goal to Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk on the power play 6:38 into regulation. Bobrovsky improves to 23-12-2 on the season and has won five of his past six starts. He has given up two goals or fewer in each of those five wins.
This story was originally published February 8, 2025 at 9:42 PM.
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