Panthers Streak By Senators

     The Florida Panthers extended their winning streak to four games as they topped the Ottawa Senators 5-1 on Sunday night at BB&T Center. The Panthers will head out of South Florida to begin a six-game road trip.
     It was the first time Mike Hoffman played against his former team that he was with for seven seasons. He was traded during the summer from Ottawa to San Jose and then to Florida.
     Ottawa(7-8-3) scrambled out to a 1-0 lead on the power play with 1:25 left in the first period. Chris Tierney made a pass from the right wing to the middle and Ryan Dzingel ripped a wrist shot past James Reimer.
     Florida(6-5-3) was able to even it up 1-1 at the 3:05 mark. Hoffman made a cross-ice pass from the right circle to the left circle where Evgenii Dadonov was. Dadonov placed a pass to the slot and Aleksander Barkov snapped a shot by Mike McKenna. Hoffman increased his point streak to 12 games while Dadonov extended his point streak to 11 games. Pavel Bure has the Panthers franchise record of 13 games done during the 1999-2000 season.
     The Panthers continued their momentum with a power-play goal at 6:01 and took their first lead of the contest. Vincent Trocheck connected a pass from the right circle to Keith Yandle at the top of the zone. He skated in a couple of feet, took a a wrist shot and Jonathan Huberdeau redirected it in the low slot area.
     The Sens trailed 3-1 with 5:03 remaining in the second. Hoffman passed to Bogdan Kiselevich in his own zone. Kiselevich rainbowed a high to the neutral zone. Barkov outmuscled Christian Jaros for the puck at the Senators blue line, skated toward the slot on a short breakaway and scored.
     Florida increased the gap to 4-1 with 3:57 to go.  Juho Lammikko sent the puck from the right point around the boards to Colton Sceviour behind the Senators. He passed it to the crease and Troy Brouwer lifted the puck in for the tally. It was the first NHL point for Lammikko.
     The explosion continued for Florida with another goal with 1:49 left in the period.  Huberdeau angled a pass to Frank Vatrano in the slot and he scored on a wrist shot. It was the fifth goal of the campaign for Vatrano.