In Ottawa, Tim Stutzle scored a power play goal with less than three minutes left in the third period on Monday to snap a 3-3 tie with the Florida Panthers and help send the Senators to a 5-3 win.
Shane Pinto added a late empty-net goal for the final score.
“To be honest, I’ve been playing terribly,” Stutzle said. “It’s definitely good [to score], but in the end, I have to be way better. … I feel like every time I get the puck I don’t really move my legs enough, and they’ve been gapping up pretty good, their [defensemen]. To be honest, I’ve just got to get back to stopping and starting and trying to make plays and hold onto pucks. I’ve been losing too many battles.”
Mads Sogaard made 32 saves in the Senators win.
“He’s really confident,” Stutzle said of Sogaard. “He goes out of the net to play pucks; he knows what he’s doing out there. It looks like he’s been playing for a long time. I’m really confident in him when he’s back there. He looks so calm.”
Ottawa improved to 36-33-5.
“I thought we played a good game today,” DeBrincat said. “Capitalized on our chances. Obviously, a big two points for us. Got to keep the momentum in the next couple of games.”
Brady Tkachuk and Erik Brannstrom (power play) scored in the first period to give the Senators a 2-0 lead.
“I thought that’s as mature a game as Brady’s played in a long time,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “I think he was winning inches there at the end, and that’s what you have to do. This time of year, these are playoff games, essentially us versus them, and every inch matters.”
Florida got one back at 5:58 of the middle frame on a marker from Gustav Forsling to trim the deficit for the Panthers to 2-1.
“Quite frankly, I felt at 5-on-5 we absolutely dominated them for most of the game,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “But yeah, special teams definitely played a big factor tonight, not in our favor.”
Alex DeBrincat scored off the power play with 38 seconds left in the second for a 3-1 lead to Ottawa.
“For the most part, we put together not a bad performance,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “I thought we were pretty good most of the night. It was just, we got into some penalty trouble and they capitalized on their power plays, and we didn’t on ours. They definitely crushed us in the whole special teams battle tonight.”
Florida dropped to36-31-7 off their fourth straight loss.
“They have skilled guys on that power play,” Florida forward Eetu Luostarinen said. “We took a couple of stupid penalties, including myself. We just have to stay out of the box.”
Forsling scored his second of the game hear the midway point of the third to trim the lad to 3-2 for Ottawa.
“He’s been so good all year,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of Forsling. “Played in every game, and confidence is growing so strongly. He only just keeps getting better. He’s got a great shot. We’re just starting to see it, and I think you’re going to see a lot more of it.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves in the Panthers loss.
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