Senators shut out Panthers

OTTAWA -- Mike Condon made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season, and Erik Karlsson and Derick Brassard scored goals 19 seconds apart in the first period to give the Senators a 2-0 win against the Florida Panthers at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.
Condon made his second straight start with No. 1 goaltender Craig Anderson on personal leave while his wife, Nicholle, undergoes cancer treatment. He is 3-1-1 since being acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 2. It was the third shutout of Condon's NHL career.
The Senators (15-8-2) won after back-to-back losses.

WATCH: All Panthers vs. Senators highlights
Roberto Luongo made 19 saves for the Panthers (12-11-2), who lost for the third time in their past four games (1-2-1). Florida is 1-1-1 since general manager Tom Rowe became coach, replacing Gerard Gallant after a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 27.
"It comes down to team defense and guys buying in," Condon said. "Tonight that was a good example, 24 shots, not many Grade A chances against. Makes games very manageable for the goalie core here. The goalie is only as good as his defense, and it was very good defense tonight."
Senators coach Guy Boucher said Condon's play during Anderson's absence is giving his teammates confidence.

"Yeah, 100 percent," Boucher said. "He did really well last game too, and he's had terrific games before that. He's just continuing what he's been doing since the day he got here, so we do feel very strongly about our goaltenders. He played great and the players played great in front of him. It was a real team effort."
Karlsson made it 1-0 at 6:46 of the first period from the edge of the crease when a pass by Ryan Dzingel from behind the net bounced off a stick and into his skates. He kicked the puck up to his stick and scored on a low shot for his fifth goal.
The Senators jumped on a turnover in the neutral zone and Chris Wideman found Brassard in front of the net with a pass. Brassard scored at 7:05 for his fourth goal.
"I saw [Brassard] coming back door," Luongo said. "I was able to read it. He made a nice play, held on to it and dragged it all the way across the crease."

Goal of the game

Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki's body check on Derek MacKenzie outside the Florida blue line seven minutes into the game created a turnover. Brassard, Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman made four sharp passes off the turnover, the last by Hoffman to Wideman. He found Brassard in front of the net to Luongo's left. Brassard swept the puck around Luongo on his forehand to make it 2-0.

Save of the game

Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck had a breakaway 30 seconds into the second period. He skated in and tried to score between Condon's pads but the goalie squeezed his pads and fell to the ice, keeping the puck out of the net.

Highlight of the game

The Senators killed off Florida's 5-on-3 advantage for 1:23 starting at 13:14 of the second period. Condon made four saves during the stretch.

Unsung moment of the game

At 8:10 of the first period, Senators defenseman Andreas Englund, making his NHL debut, had his first hit. He led the Senators with seven and played 9:49.

They said it

"We started slow the first 10 minutes, we were kind of back on our heels. We were almost waiting to see what they were going to do and they played a real strong game." -- Panthers coach Tom Rowe
"I thought there were stretches where we were good offensively. Sometimes you run into a hot goalie. It's tough to not score on the power play. It's tough right now to pinpoint it, but for the most of the game, we did the right thing and they got a couple of early goals and we ran into a hot goalie. Sometimes you've got to tip your cap." -- Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle
"Yeah, this game is about momentum, and when that happened, the guys were sacrificing the body, blocking shots … they have a bunch of guys who can shoot the puck on the point, they have a lot of skill. So to keep them at bay … our penalty kill has been great all year. It's a game of momentum and I think we stopped a little bit of it right there." -- Goaltender Mike Condon on the Senators killing the Panthers 5-on-3 advantage in the second period

Need to know

The Senators were 0 for 7 on the power play; the Panthers were 0 for 4. … Yandle played his 576th consecutive game, matching Billy Harris for 10th all-time. It is the second-longest active consecutive games streak behind Andrew Cogliano (728) of the Anaheim Ducks.

What's next

Panthers: At the Boston Bruins on Monday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, NHLN-US, NESN, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Senators: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday (7 p.m. ET; ROOT, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV)