Senators Get By Panthers

    For their second straight game, the Ottawa Senators defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Thursday night. The game this time was played at BB&T Center in Sunrise. The Sens have now beaten the Cats 11 of the last 12 times overall and seven of the last nine times in Florida. The Panthers have lost three straight games since they won on opening night.
    Although they were outshot in the first four minutes of the first period 6-1, Florida(1-3-0) scored on their first power play at 8:24. Right wing Tomas Kopecky won the face-off in the left circle and defenseman Brian Campbell got the puck at the top of the zone. He passed it ahead to left wing Tomas Fleischmann in the left circle and he put a wrist shot by Senators goalie Craig Anderson for a Panthers 1-0 lead.
    Ottawa(3-0-0) evened the game with their own power-play goal at 11:25. Center Zack Smith won the left circle the face-off against Jack Skille, who came in after Jerred Smithson got bounced from the draw by the officials. Defensman Marc Methot sent the puck from the left point to the right point where defenseman Chris Phillips blasted a one-time slapshot by Panthers goalie Jose Theodore. Florida was outshot 16-7 in the first period due to the eight shots Ottawa had during their combined two power plays.
    In the second period, the Senators took the lead 2-1 as Norrris Trophy winner and defenseman Erik Karlsson intercepted a Shawn Matthias pass, brought the puck in from the neutral zone and ripped in a wrist shot from the left circle for an unassisted goal at 8:28. It was his second goal this season.
    Campbell pulled down left wing Guillaume Letandresse from behind to give him a penalty shot at 10:49 of the third period. Theodore made the save when Letandresse took a backhand shot.
    The Senators finished things off when center Jason Speeza fired the puck into an open net from the Panthers blue line at 18:44 and extended their lead to 3-1. Left wing Milan Michalek and Methot both got credited with assists on that play.
    Anderson increased his record against his former team to 9-0-1 as he saved 25 of 26 shots to remain a perfect 3-0-0 this season. Theodore dropped to 1-2-0 as he made 34 saves, but he gave up two goals. Campbell, Fleischmann and Kopecky all extended their point streaks to two games. The Cats went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Sens were 1-3. The Panthers will host the Philadelphia Flyers for the only time this season on Saturday night.