In Sunrise, six different Panthers skaters hit for goals on Thursday night in a 7-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
Alexander Barkov hit for a double in the win.
Alex Lyon made 56 saves for the Florida win.
“Things kind of worked out tonight,” Lyon said. “I was feeling good early and made some good-feeling saves early, and that’s kind of a nice win to set the table for the game.”
Brandon Montour staked the Panthers to a 1-0 lead in the first period, followed by a goal from Barkov in the same frame, and his second in the early minutes of the second period for a 3-0 lead.
“He was unbelievable, the lion,” Barkov said of Lyon. “Obviously we didn’t play our best game, but they pretty much gave us all the chances to win, and we were pretty opportunistic.”
The Panthers posted five goals in the middle frame.
“It was a weird game overall,” Ottawa forward Drake Batherson said. “Obviously we had lots of shots (58), a few good looks, and maybe if those go in it’s a different game. But yeah, just flush that one. It was a weird one.”
The Panthers improved to 41-31-7 off their fifth straight win.
The win enabled the Panthers to hold onto their tie for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference, with the New York Islanders, one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Claude Giroux scored in the second to trim the Panthers lead to 3-1, but Florida replied with four straight.
“We had some bad bounces there,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “Obviously there’s a few that we’d like back, but their goalie put a clinic on. I don’t think that’s a 7-1 game, I think everyone knows that. They had some tips and they had some things, and we’ve got to find ways to score.”
Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen scored for a 5-1 advantage to take some of the effort out of the Senators’ sails.
Nick Cousins pushed the lead to 6-1.
“One guy that was dialed in from start to finish straight through regardless of what was going on in the game was Alex, and he was good at all areas,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I’m happy for him because he’s worked really hard to be that good from his first tour up (from the American Hockey League) and then coming back in. He comes to the rink at even keel but works very, very hard at his game. So, I’m happy for him because he’s earned it. It hasn’t been easy and good for him, and then, of course, good for us.”
Gustav Forsling scored for the Panthers to send the game to the third period, 7-1 to Florida.
Ottawa’s Ridly Greig scored late in the third period for the 7-2 final.
Leevi Merilainen got the start for the Senators, but was given the hook after surrendering three goals and making nine saves.
Mads Sogaard made 14 saves in a mop up role.
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