After two brutal losses over a three-night span against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa, the Ottawa Senators will play their final game not only before the 4 Nations Face-Off, but their final game of the season in the Sunshine State against the Florida Panthers.
Just like the Lightning, the Senators have not played the Panthers since October. The time to head into the 4 Nations Face-Off break with some momentum is highly needed for the Senators.
Senators play Panthers for first time since October in Sunrise
The Senators travel to Amerant Bank Arena to play the Panthers with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
Over the past two games against the Lightning, the Senators suffered a 4-3 loss on Tuesday night and a 5-1 loss on Thursday night to fall to 29-22-4 on the season. One big positive that came out of both games was Michael Amadio scoring a goal in each game. The Lightning jumped the Senators in the standings with earning the two wins.
As for the Panthers, they come into tonight's game first place in the Atlantic Division with a 33-20-3 record. The Panthers come in having won four of their last five games with the most recent game being a 3-2 road win on Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues.
Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers with 30 goals and 61 points. Brady Tkachuk's brother Matthew is second on the Panthers with 54 points. Aleksander Barkov leads the Panthers with 37 assists and is third on the team with 50 points.
The Senators and Panthers haven't played since the Senators' season opener on Oct. 10 in Ottawa where the Senators earned a 3-1 win. In the win, Tim Stutzle scored two goals and Linus Ullmark made 31 saves to earn his first win as a Senator behind a loud Ottawa crowd.