OTTAWA – The Florida Panthers (37-38-4) got a feel for two new rookies during a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators (42-27-10) at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
With five of their regular defensemen sidelined by injuries, the Panthers recalled Marek Alscher and Ludvig Jansson from the AHL to make their NHL debuts.
“It’s sweet and sour,” said Alscher, who saw 19:28 of ice time in his debut. “The first NHL game, that’s big for me, but unfortunately we didn’t get the win. That would’ve been awesome. Like I said, sweet and sour. It’s nice to play in my first NHL game, but it’d be much nicer if we won.”
On the power play early in the first period, Drake Batherson broke the ice for the Senators when he tipped a point shot from Jake Sanderson past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 at 6:49.
Not long after that, the Panthers survived a shooting gallery from the Senators, with Bobrovsky making four massive saves in a little less than three minutes.
Doubling the lead for the Senators, Fabian Zetterlund buried a top-shelf snipe from the bottom of the right circle to make it 2-0 at the 17-minute mark.
Less than two minutes into the second period, Bobrovsky kept the deficit at two goals when he robbed Senators leading scorer Tim Stutzle on a breakaway.
Overall, the Panthers did more than just hold their own in the middle frame, leading 9-4 in scoring chances.
“I thought in the second half of the second period we got to a speed,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We got to play fast enough. I thought the back end gave our forwards a chance to get on the forecheck, get in on some rushes and get some speed. That’s the game that we like to play.”
Nearly cutting into the deficit, Jesper Boqvist was denied by Linus Ullmark on a quality look from the slot with 10.3 seconds left in the second period.
“We had the puck more and didn’t have to defend as hard,” Boqvist said of the team’s push. “A couple shifts there in the second and third, we had some good shifts.”
Extending the lead for the Senators early in the third period, Artem Zub pounced a loose puck after it bounced off the end boards and fired it past Bobrovsky to make it 3-0 at 3:03.
Getting the Panthers on the board and spoiling Ullmark’s shutout bid, Boqvist took a pass from A.J. Greer on the rush and scored from the slot to make it 3-1 at 14:17.
