Panthers Come Back On Senators

     The Florida Panthers got by the Ottawa Senators 6-5 at BB&T Center on Tuesday night. It was their first game for the Panthers since the All-Star Game break.
     It did not take long before Florida(22-19-10) was able to take the lead. Michael Matheson raced through the right circle, released a wrist shot from the low right circle which went off Chris Wideman's skate and trickled by Mike Condon at 2:24.
     Ottawa(26-16-6) tied it up just several minutes later at 4:58. Kyle Turris skated the puck from the center ice to the Panthers zone. He sent a cross-ice pass to Ryan Dzingel in the left circle and he snapped a shot past Roberto Luongo.
     The tie lasted 25 seconds when the Panthers bounced back at 5:23. Michael Sgarbossa moved the puck from the high slot to Derek MacKenzie in the left circle. He forwarded it across to Mark Pysyk and he tipped it in.
     The Senators added another two goals before the end of the first period. Dzingel put in his second tally of the game at 8:34 and Wideman followed with a goal with 31 seconds left in the first.
      Both teams combined for more goals during the second period. Erik Karlsson made it 4-2 with his eighth goal of the season at 2:19. The Cats responded just 18 seconds later at 2:37 as Colton Sceviour scored his first goal in 39 games.
     Florida tied it at the 9:53 mark when Sgarbossa won a face-off in the left circle and Matheson blasted home a slapshot. It was the first career multi-goal game for Matheson and first career multi-point game for Sgarbossa.
     In the third period, the Cats regained the lead 5-4 with 6:03 remaining. Condon lost the handle of the puck behind the Senators cage. Jonathan Marchessault got to it and placed a backhand shot from the right of the crease area into the empty net. Marchessault extended his point streak to five games.   
     Jason Demers added an empty-net goal for Florida with 34.5 to go in the contest to make it 6-4. Derick Brassard closed the gap when Ottawa had an extra attacker on the ice with 11 seconds left.