The Senators were eliminated from playoff contention. Their club is expected to have a change of ownership during the offseason.
Panthers goalie Alex Lyon set a franchise record with 56 saved in a regulation game. The record is 57 saves in contest that involved overtime.
Florida(41-31-7) made it 1-0 at the 7:55 mark of the first period. Marc Staal pushed it from the left point. Matthew Tkachuk passed the puck from the left wing and Brandon Montour snapped a shot from the high slot by Leevi Merilainen for his 15th goal this year.
The Panthers extended their lead to 2-0 on the power play with 5:57 remaining in the first. Aleksander Barkov won the faceoff in the right circle. Montour forwarded the puck to Tkachuk at the right goal line. He gave the puck to Barkov in the outer right circle and he scored his 21st goal on a wrist shot. Tkachuk set a career-high with his 105th point in 2022-23. He surpassed his mark of 104 points with the Calgary Flames last year.
In the second period, the Cats got a three-goal margin on shorthanded goal at 1:24. Gustav Forsling sent a lead pass from his own blue line. Sam Reinhart entered the Sens and angled a pass to his left. Barkov put in a snap shot from the left circle.
Ottawa(37-35-7) broke the shutout at the 4:25 mark of the period. Former Panthers player Claude Giroux released a wrist shot from the high slot past Lyon for his 31st goal of the campaign. Drake Batherson was credited will the only assist of the play.
It became 4-1 for Florida on another goal with the man advantage. Barkov connected a pass from the right wing to the top of the zone. Montour fired a shot and it was deflected in by Reinhart in the low slot by Mads Sogaard for his 30th goal of the season. It was the second time in his NHL career he reached the 30-goal mark. He had a career-high 33 goals in 2021-22.
The Panthers increased to 5-1 on a power-play goal with 10:35 to go in the frame. Eetu Luostarinen scored his 17th goal of the year from close range. Ekblad and Montour were credited with assists on the tally.
The Cats expanded it to 6-1 with 4:22 left in the second. The Panthers had killed off a 5-on-3 power play by Ottawa and Radko Gudas cleared the puck. Aaron Ekblad lifted a lead pass from the red line. Nick Cousins got to it in the slot area and slid the puck into the cage from the crease area for his ninth goal of the year.
Florida kept the avalanche on goals going and made it 7-1 with 3:00 remaining in the period. Forsling ripped a forehand shot from the top left circle for an unassisted goal.
The Senators cut it to 7-2 with 3:42 to go in the third period. Ridly Greig scored on a forehand shot from the top of the crease for his second tally this year.
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