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Quick Rebound: Florida Panthers 6, Ottawa Senators 0

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It did not take the Florida Panthers long to get going against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.



After losing eight of its previous 10, Florida scored twice in the first 97 seconds en route to a 6-0 win over the Senators at Canada Tire Center.

The goals from Nick Cousins and Dmitry Kulikov were the fastest pair of goals to open a game in franchise history — topping 1:42 on Dec. 15, 2010.

The Panthers were far from done.

After surviving the rest of the first, one in which Ottawa had four power plays, the Panthers added three in the second to chase Joonas Korpisalo and pick up their first win of this final regular-season road trip.

Anton Lundell made it 3-0 at 2:35 of the second with a beaut of a goal, one in which he fired a shot from below the goal line and banked it off the back of Korpisalo.

Moments later and it was 4-0 off a Sam Bennett goal.

Florida went into the third up 5-0 on Sam Reinhart’s 53rd of the season.

Matthew Tkachuk capped his three-point night with a power-play goal in the third.

Sergei Bobrovsky ended with 30 saves for his fifth shutout of the season — which matches his total in his first four seasons with the Panthers combined.

Ottawa went 0-for-6 on the power play thanks, in part, to Bobrovsky.

Florida remains four points back of Boston in the Atlantic Division as the Bruins won at Carolina on Thursday night.

The Panthers will play their final road game of the regular season Saturday afternoon against the Bruins.

Florida comes home after that and will play host to the Sens on Tuesday as it kicks off its final homestand before the playoffs.

With the win, Paul Maurice took over fourth place on the NHL all-time list with 865 victories.

GOALS OF THE GAME

  • Panthers 1, Senators 0 (1:02, 1st): Sam Bennett wheels the puck around the boards where Matthew Tkachuk picks it up and feeds a streaking Nick Cousins from the right circle.
  • Panthers 2, Senators 0 (1:37, 1st): Dmitry Kulikov fires one off from the point and not only gets his first of the season, but first with the Panthers since before being traded to Buffalo in 2016.
  • Panthers 3, Senators 0 (2:35, 2nd): Anton Lundell throws one in from behind the goal line, puts it off of the back of Joonas Korpisalo and the Panthers are rolling.
  • Panthers 4, Senators 0 (4:29, 2nd): Tkachuk drives in, leaves the puck for the trailing Sam Bennett — and that’ll do it for Korpi.
  • Panthers 5, Senators 0 (17:56, 2nd): Sasha Barkov gets a cross-ice pass from Sam Reinhart and sends it right back. No. 53 for Reinhart comes from the left circle.
  • Panthers 6, Senators 0 (3:54, 3rd PP): Barkov finds Tkachuk in front and that’s that.

GR’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME

1. Matthew Tkachuk, Florida

2. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida

3. Anton Lundell, Florida

ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ BOSTON BRUINS

  • When: Saturday, 3 p.m.
  • Where: TD Garden, Boston
  • TV/Streaming: ABC/ESPN+
  • Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
  • Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932; NHL App
  • Last Season — Regular Season: Tied 2-2; Playoffs: Florida won 4-3 (first-round)
  • This season (Bruins Lead 3-0) — At Boston: Bruins 3, Panthers 2 OT (Oct.30); Saturday. At Florida: Bruins 3, Panthers 1 (Nov. 22); Bruins 4, Panthers (March 26).
  • All-time Regular Season Series: Boston leads 63-37-7, 6 ties
  • All-time Postseason Series: Florida leads 2-0 (1996, 2023)
  • Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday vs. Ottawa, 7 p.m.

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