Panthers pummel Senators with franchise-record 58 shots in victory
Ottawa's Forsberg makes 53 saves in losing effort
Brandon Montour scored the tie-breaking goal with 3:32 remaining and the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 5-3 on Saturday.
Shane Pinto, Brady Tkachuk and Nick Holden scored for the Senators, who have lost two straight. Anton Forsberg stopped 53 shots.
"It was a good win," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "They had won four of the past five coming in and are a quick-strike team. They are a team that has some high-end skill with some talented young players and if they catch you in open ice, they're going to to finish."
After Montour gave the Panthers a 4-3 lead with his third of the season, Matthew Tkachuk sealed the win with an empty-netter with 14 seconds left.
WATCH | Montour pots winner:
Florida, which outshot Philadelphia 51-22 on Thursday night, had another big shooting night against the Senators, directing a regular season franchise-record 58 shots on goal.
Verhaeghe and Barkov scored about four minutes apart in the first period to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead as they outshot the Senators 26-4. Verhaeghe got the Panthers on the scoreboard at 7:59 and Barkov doubled the lead with a power-play goal with 8:06 left.
Pinto scored on the power play 37 seconds into the second and Brady Tkachuk beat Knight to tie it less than 3 minutes later.
"The shots [in the first] were pretty good for us and we want to play like that in every period," Barkov said. "At the same time, we knew they would regroup and be better than that. And they were, right away. They got a goal on the first shift and got right back into the game."
Verhaeghe gave Florida the lead back with a blistering slap shot from the top of the right circle with 37 seconds left in the middle period.
In the third, Matthew Tkachuk scored in front of the net with 11:01 remaining, but Ottawa won its challenge that Florida was offside and that goal was erased as well.
Holden's goal with 8:04 to go in the third tied it 3-3.
`The first period is, well, it's our worst period of the year for sure," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "Just weren't ready when the game started. We battled back and we gave up a goal at the end of the second period, and then we give up a goal with three minutes to go. I mean, we kept battling but we've got to be better than that."
With files from CBC Sports
