Senators score eight, surge past Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Josh Norris had two goals and an assist and Drake Batherson had a goal and three assists when the Ottawa Senators defeated the Florida Panthers 8-2 at FLA Live Arena on Tuesday.

Connor Brown had three assists for the Senators (9-16-1), who have won two in a row and five of six. Dylan Gambrell scored a shorthanded goal and Anton Forsberg made 33 saves in his fifth straight win.
"We just needed a couple of wins to kind of get that feeling back in our room," Senators forward Nicholas Paul said. "Right now we're just working hard, working together and the bounces are coming our way as well."
Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (18-6-4), who lost at home for the second time in 16 games. Spencer Knight made 30 saves.
It was Ottawa's biggest victory margin of the season and Florida's most lopsided loss.
"We haven't really had one like this," Reinhart said. "It's a long season and they're gonna come. It's a matter of responding."

The eight goals represented Ottawa's highest total in a regular-season game since an 8-4 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 24, 2012.
"We're playing the right way in the D-zone and that's leading to our offense," Gambrell said.
Norris and Tim Stutzle scored 1:20 apart in the second period to give Ottawa a 4-2 lead.
Norris broke a 2-2 tie at 16:06 when he skated behind the Florida defense and put the puck in off the post. Play continued for several seconds before a horn sounded and replay confirmed the goal.
Stutzle made it 4-2 at 17:26 after Knight turned the puck over in the Florida zone with a shot from the slot.
Norris made it 5-2 at 23 seconds of the third period when he redirected Batherson's pass on a 2-on-1.
Batherson made it 6-2 at 6:10.
"We're kind of taking it a day at a time," Gambrell said. "Every day at practice has been good. Everyobdy's sticking together and we want to keep the ball rolling."

Austin Watson gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 4:28 of the first period while the Senators had the first nine shots of the game. Jonathan Huberdeau tied it 1-1 at 13:05 with his 10th goal of the season off a feed from Reinhart.
The Panthers have lost three of four after a three-game road trip that concluded with a 3-2 loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
"We knew that they had a tough trip coming back from Colorado that they might be a little slow coming out of the gate and we wanted to jump real hard on them, and we did," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "Unfortunately, it's only 1-1 after one, but tied or better after one is a good result on the road for us. And we just stayed with it and I thought it was an entire team effort."
Gambrell gave Ottawa a 2-1 lead at 1:30 of the second period on a shorthanded breakaway. Reinhart tied it 2-2 at 15:33 with a rebound before Norris gave Ottawa its third lead 33 seconds later.
Brady Tkachuk and Paul had goals on 5-on-3 power plays at 14:23 and 14:57 of the third period for the 8-2 final.
Florida was 0-for-6 on the power play.
"We're going to face adversity as a team," Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "We know that. It's all about coming back to work tomorrow and finding a way. We know we're a good team, and we're going to find a way."
NOTES:Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar each left the game early in the third period after being assessed a misconduct penalty. … Panthers forward Anthony Duclair played 14:06 and had three shots in his return after missing eight games with a lower-body injury. … Ottawa became the first NHL team to score eight goals in a road game this season.