OTTAWA — Frank Vatrano scored the eventual winner as part of a four-goal second period and the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 6-3 on Thursday.
Evgenii Dadonov scored his second power-play goal of the night to tie the game 2-2 for Florida (21-14-5) and 89 seconds later Noel Acciari gave the Panthers the lead.
Vatrano and Colton Sceviour scored 44 seconds apart in the final minute of the period to put the game out of reach. Jonathan Huberdeau added an empty-net goal in the third to round out the scoring for Florida.
The win allowed Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 28 saves, to pick up his first road win since Oct. 30.
Tyler Ennis and Chris Tierney gave Ottawa (16-20-5) a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission and Connor Brown scored in the third.
The Senators played their first of eight home games this month. Craig Anderson stopped 25 shots.
This was the second meeting between the two teams, with the Panthers taking the first 6-1 on Dec. 16.
After Dadonov opened scoring 1:41 into the game, Ennis tied the game as his backhand shot deflected off Riley Stillman’s stick and over Bobrovsky. The Senators took the lead as Tierney took a pass from Anthony Duclair and wristed it far side.
Dadonov set the tone again at the 8:54 mark of the second period, opening the flood gates for the Panthers.
Ottawa played a better third period, and was able to get a goal from Brown late in the period, but the game was well out of reach by that point.
Notes
Ottawa acquired defenceman Mike Reilly from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forward Andrew Sturtz and the Senators’ fifth-round selection in the 2021 NHL Draft Thursday night. Rudolfs Balcers made his season debut for the Senators after being recalled from AHL Belleville where he has eight goals and 16 assists in 19 games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2020.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press