OTTAWA – Brady Tkachuk lit the lamp in his return to Ottawa, but the Florida Panthers opened up their road trip with a 5-1 loss to the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday.
Snapping a three-game winning streak, the Panthers now sit at 5-3-2.
“It was just nice to be back,” said Brady, who spent the previous eight seasons with the Senators before being traded to Florida in June. “Of course, not the outcome that we wanted, but [it’s the] start a road trip. Just got to bounce back and move on."
Dealing with a rowdy crowd in enemy territory, Brady enjoyed a brief moment of silence when he opened the scoring with a goal from in tight on the power play that put the Panthers up 1-0 at the 10-minute mark of the first period.
Following the goal, the former Senators captain smiled and shrugged.
“It felt nice,” said Brady, who’s scored seven goals in the last four games. “But at the end of the day, it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted as a team. So, [we’ll] bounce back.”
On their second power play of the period, the Senators evened the score when Tim Stutzle buried a one-timer from the right circle to make it 1-1 at 14:13.
Standing tall early for the Panthers, Akira Schmid stopped 10 of 11 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
After some back-and-forth action, the Senators took the lead just before the midway point of the second period when Claude Giroux scored from the high slot to make it 2-1 at 9:34.
Giving the Senators a two-goal cushion, Shane Pinto crashed the net on a contested breakaway and managed to slip the puck across the goal line to make it 3-1 at 17:18.
“They had a great start,” forward Garnet Hathaway said of Ottawa’s pressure. “They were on pucks. They were quick. They were feeding off the energy in this rink.”
Starting off the third period with a bang, Sam Bennett fought Ridly Greig.
After stopping 16 of the first 17 shots he faced, Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark had to be helped down the tunnel after appearing to injury himself while making a kick save.
Samuel Ersson replaced him in Ottawa's net.
Pulling away, the Senators made it 4-1 on a goal from Warren Foegele at 7:58.
Locking in the win for Ottawa, Stephen Haliday lit the lamp to make it 5-1 at 14:57.
A game with little flow, nearly a full period's worth of time was spent on special teams. The Panthers had five trips to the power play in the loss, while the Senators had a whopping seven.
“I don't think we ever got to [our game],” head coach Paul Maurice said. “I think part of it was we were behind the play in the first. We just lost so many face offs. The second period we spent too much time in the penalty box. The defining feature of our game is our forecheck. I don't think we ever got to it.”
THEY SAID IT
"We didn't like our game tonight, and I think everyone's hungry for the next one tomorrow." – Gustav Forsling on turning the page to Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh
“We’re going to need time to digest it a little bit. Initially, I think you go to their effort, their speed. You take bits and pieces of how they were successful. I thought their forecheck was great. I thought they got in on pucks. I thought they pressured us to make plays up the wall when we didn't necessarily want to. They controlled a lot of the neutral zone. They were quick. So, yeah, what can we steal from them? I think if you ask them, they would probably say that's one of their better games this season.” – Garnet Hathaway on what the Panthers can learn from tonight’s loss
“They're off to a great start, playing great. It just wasn’t our best game. Lots to learn, and we'll move on and be ready to go tomorrow.” – Brady Tkachuk on tonight’s loss
“They got in behind us on some plays that we had complete control of the puck. So, that's the most difficult rush chances, the turnovers, whether it's a shot that gets knocked down or a turnover, you're not in a position to defend those and you never will.” – Paul Maurice on Ottawa’s scoring chances tonight
CATS STATS
- Brady Tkachuk’s seven goals are tied for the fourth most through 10 games in Panthers history.
- Niko Mikkola blocked a team-high three shots.
- The Panthers had 17 giveaways and 16 of their shots blocked.
- The Senators led 30-18 in scoring chances.
- The Panthers led 42-25 in hits.
WHAT’S NEXT?
No rest for these Cats.
Finishing off their back-to-back, the Panthers will face the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
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