Florida reached 122 points with the victory while the Colorado Avalanche, now at 119 points, lost in a shootout at home to the Nashville Predators with one contest to go. Spencer Knight collected his second shutout in his NHL career. The Panthers play their regular season finale at the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.
It is just the second piece of team hardware the Cats have ever received. They won the Prince of Wales Trophy in 1995-96 when they won the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games.
Florida(58-17-6), who are now tied for the fifth most wins during a regular season in NHL history, scored at the 6:01 mark of the first period to lead 1-0. Sam Bennett stole the puck in the right corner and centered it. Sam Reinhart found the net for the 33rd time this season with a forehand shot from the low slot.
The Panthers blanketed Ottawa(32-42-7) with three goals during the third period and had a 4-0 lead. Reinhart made a diagonal pass from the top left circle and Anthony Duclair rifled a one-time slot which was saved by Filip Gustavsson. Bennett put in the rebound from the top of the crease for his 28th goal of the campaign at 1:11.
Florida struck again just 21 seconds later and extended it to 3-0. Maxim Mamin chipped the puck ahead at the red line and Eetu Luostarinen skated into the Senators zone on the right side. He made a cross-ice pas and Carter Verhaeghe roofed a snap shot from the left of the crease.
The Cats finished the scoring barrage with 6:52 left in the third. Luostarinen dropped a pass at the top of the zone and Mamin sent a lead pass from the high slot. Verhaeghe tapped in a shot from the right of the crease for his second tally of the contest and 24th goal of the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment