Preseason No. 5: Ottawa Senators 4, Florida Panthers 2

The Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators both iced lineups without many of their top players for their preseason game Sunday.

At times, it really showed.

It was a choppy game with a couple of regulars — Anton Lundell and Drake Batherson to name two — showing out.

Although Florida scored first on the first of two goals from Lundell, Ottawa scored twice late and pulled out a 4-2 win.

The game was held at Centre 200 in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and was perhaps the final time this preseason many on the ice had to show the Panthers they deserve more time with the big team.

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Aside from Mackie Samoskevich — who does not appear to be in any danger of being sent to the AHL right now — not many made a big impression.

Spencer Knight got the start for Florida and played the entire game until being pulled for the extra attacker, giving up three goals on 30 shots.

Florida will be making substantial cuts to their roster in the hours following this game with coach Paul Maurice saying he will have one group of between 25-28 players on the ice come Monday in Coral Springs.

Many of the players who dressed for the Panthers on Sunday will not be among them and will instead be heading to Fort Lauderdale International for a flight to North Carolina.

The Panthers previously sent six to AHL camp in Charlotte on Sunday morning and now have 48 on the active roster.

On the ice, Lundell made it a 1-0 game at 8:17 of the first when he took a pass from Samoskevich and drove in on Anton Forsberg and scored top shelf.

Ottawa tied the game at 14:22 on a goal from Jiri Smejkal before taking the lead off a jumbled face off to kick off the second with Roby Jarventie scoring 11 seconds in.

Down 2-1, the Panthers had a good opportunity to tie things up when Forsberg was called for delay of game giving Florida a 5-on-3 power play chance for 31 seconds but it failed to score.

Lundell did end up tying it with his second goal of the night, taking a feed from Nick Cousins at the blue line, rolling into the slot and firing a shot at 10:12 of the third.

Ottawa ended up getting the game-winner with 3:10 remaining when Batherson picked up his third assist by sending a nice power play pass to Parker Kelly in front of the net.

Batherson, who played junior hockey in Sydney, ended up capping what would be a four-point night by scoring into an empty net with 1:25 remaining.

GR’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME

1. Drake Batherson, Ottawa (ENG, 3 assists)

2. Anton Lundell, Florida (2 goals)

3. Parker Kelly, Ottawa (GWG)

UP NEXT FOR THE FLORIDA PANTHERS (3-2)

PRESEASON VS. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (3-1)

• When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amway Center, Orlando
• TV/Radio: None
• Streaming: FloridaPanthers.com
• Previous Exhibition Games: Florida 5, Nashville 0 (Sept. 25); Florida 5, Nashville 2 (Sept. 25); Carolina 4, Florida 1 (Sept. 27); Florida 4, Carolina 2 (Sept. 29)

LOOKING AHEAD FOR THE PANTHERS

• Thursday: Preseason at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.
• Saturday: Preseason vs. Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.
• Oct. 12: Start of 2023-24 Regular Season at Minnesota Wild (BSF)
• Oct. 19: 2023-24 Home Opener vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (BSF)