Canadian tire fire: Penalties kill Panthers in 5-2 loss to Senators

Brady out-Tkachuks Matthew as Cats drop fourth straight

The Florida Panthers surrendered three power-play goals in a devastating 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre as the club’s losing streak hit four games.

Ottawa’s power play clicked once in each period with Derick Brassard scoring late in the first (18:55), Alex DeBrincat late in second (19:22) and Tim Stutzle put the game away late in the third, scoring with 2:23 left in regulation to give the Senators a 4-2 cushion.

Brady Tkachuk, who assisted on DeBrincar’s goal, opened the scoring 9:02 into the first period and Shane Pinto clinched it with an unassisted empty-netter after a gift from Brandon Montour.

The Panthers put 34 shots on rookie goaltender Mads Soogard, but the towering 22-year-old Dane was up to the task, stopping 32 of the them to collect his seventh win of the season.

Defenseman Gustav Forsling was the only Cat that found the back of the net.

Forsling cut Ottawa’s lead to 2-1 5:58 into the second by ripping home a bounce pass off the boards from Sam Reinhart to establish a new career high with his 11th goal of the season. Eric Staal drew the secondary assist on the play.

Forsling scored his second of the night at the 9:15 mark of the final frame with the Senators up by a 3-1 count. After Matthew Tkachuk fed Eetu Luostarinen in the right circle, he dished over to Aaron Ekblad, who teed up Forsling for a bomb from center point.

A delay of game call on Anton Lundell put Ottawa on their fourth power play of the night which culminated in Stutzle’s clinching one-timer off a pass from Travis Hamonic.

In a hugely important outing, the Panthers started slow yet again (five shots in the first period), went 0-for-4 on the power play, went 1-for-4 on the penalty kill and only won 45% of the game’s face-offs. That’s just unacceptable in a game of this magnitude. The Cats look dead in the water and will need to reach down deep if they want to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday,

Law & Order

• Gustav Forsling scored twice and matched Matthew Tkachuk, Shane Pinto and Travis Hamonic with a game-high five shots to earn Second Star honors. Forsling’s third period goal established a new career-high in points (38) for the 26-year-old former waiver claim.
• Aleksander Barkov saw his ten-game point streak come to end. Barkov played 22:32, but only managed one shot on goal to go with two hits and two blocks. The captain also had an uncharacteristically bad night on draws, winning just 43%.
• While his brother was held off the score sheet for the second straight game, Brady Tkachuk was named First Star by the Ottawa media for collecting two points, three shots and a hit.
• The Panthers continued being giving to former players this season with Derick Brassard tallying a goal and Claude Giroux picking up an assist.
• Overworked Sergei Bobrovsky gave up four goals on 25 shots and suffered his 20th loss of the campaign. Bobrovsky has surrendered four or more goals in three straight and in five of his last seven outings.
• The Senators evened the series series with the Cats. For more stop by Silver Seven Sens.