After a two consecutive losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Ottawa Senators concluded their four-game road trip and three-game road trip in Florida against the Florida Panthers.
The Senators had not played the Panthers since the season opener on Oct. 10 when the Senators earned a 3-1 win, but the second meeting turned ugly in just one period.
The Panthers defeated the Senators 5-1 at Amerant Bank Arena to drop the Senators to 29-23-4 on the season. The loss was the second consecutive 5-1 loss for the Senators.
As tonight's game concluded, one thing is a positive for the Senators is they no longer have to play in Florida for the remainder of the regular season. In a game that started off strong, would get ugly.
After the first period, the Senators led 1-0 after a Brady Tkachuk powerplay goal. In the second period, it would be a disaster.
Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling and Sam Bennett each scored a goal to help the Panthers score four goals in the second period to give the Panthers a 4-1 lead at the intermission. The goals by Forsling and Bennett came in a 1:32 span. The Panthers recorded 20 shots on goal in the second period. The Panthers added an empty-net goal in the third period to make it 5-1.
The Panthers finished the game with 48 shots on goal. Although Linus Ullmark allowed in four goals, he finished with 43 saves. The Panthers offense was too much for the Senators to handle as they applied pressure throughout the entire game. The Senators recorded 27 shots on goal against Sergei Bobrovsky.
Despite the loss, the Senators do head into the 4 Nations Face-Off break in a playoff spot, but head into the break without momentum. Three consecutive losses is a rough way to head into a break.
The Senators won't return to action until Feb. 22 when they host the Montreal Canadiens at 7 p.m. ET. The Senators and Canadiens have not played since October. When the two teams did play, the Canadiens defeated the Senators 4-1 in Montreal on Oct. 12.