RECAP: Panthers 6, Senators 0

OTTAWA – Now these are the Florida Panthers we know and love.

Even with a few key players out of the lineup, the Panthers executed their gameplan to perfection in a 6-0 win over the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Earning his fifth shutout of the season, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 30 shots he faced.

“I liked the bench. I liked the way we played in the defensive zone,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “They’ve got a really active blue line. We were blocking shots at 4-0, 5-0. I liked that an awful lot. The penalty kill, clearly, really strong and great sticks. A lot of pressure on it tonight. I liked they were able to get their energy up for the game."

Improving to 48-24-5, the Panthers, who’ve already clinched their fifth straight trip to the postseason, have recorded their third season with at least 100 points in franchise history.

“It’s been a good year, but obviously that’s not our focus at all,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said of the team’s regular-season success. “We’re not really thinking about that or where we finish. It’s all about preparing the right way for what’s to come. That’s all that we’re worried about.”

Even with it snowing outside, the Panthers got off to a hot start in Ottawa.

After Nick Cousins opened the scoring just 1:02 into the first period, Dmitry Kulikov tacked on another big goal for the Panthers with a booming slap shot just 35 seconds later to double the lead to 2-0 at 1:37.

Per NHL Stats, the two quick strikes by the Panthers marked the fastest two goals to start a game in franchise history, besting the old record of 1:42 achieved back on Dec. 15, 2010.

“A great start by our team,” Bennett said. “We came out flying.”

From that point on, the whistles blew in favor of the Senators for the remainder of the period, resulting in four trips to the power play for Ottawa. Luckily, as it has been for the majority of the season, the penalty kill was up to the task for the Panthers, going 4-for-4.

A key piece of those kills? Five big saves from Bobrovsky.

“The penalty kill, all season long, has delivered for us,” Bobrovsky said.

Padding the lead for the Panthers early in the second period, Anton Lundell fired a sharp-angle shot -- I guess “no-angle” could be a better description -- from well below the goal line that went off Senators goaltender Joonas Korpisalo’s back and into the cage to make it 3-0 at 2:35.

“It’s pretty funny, same team as last time,” Lundell said of what’s becoming somewhat of a signature goal for himself. “I like the shot. Sometimes you see that you have a little opening and some time and confidence to make that play. I just had a feeling and went after it.”

With the second line cooking, the Panthers kept on rolling when Bennett took a drop-pass from Matthew Tkachuk and ripped a shot past Korpisalo from the slot to make it 3-0 at 4:19. On the play, Cousins also did a great job tying up his man to free up plenty of room.

Following that goal, Korpisalo was relieved by Anton Forsberg in Ottawa’s net.

Not giving the Senators’ new netminder time to get settled in, the Panthers struck again soon after when Sam Reinhart finished off a give-and-go with Aleksander Barkov by beating Forsberg with a shot from the bottom of the left circle to extend the lead to 5-0 at 17:56.

Facing his old teammates for the first time, Vladimir Tarasenko had the secondary assist.

Not satisfied with their massive lead, the Panthers continued to pile it on in the third period when Tkachuk, who finished with a team-high three points, re-directed a pass from Barkov into the net from the low slot on the power play to make it 6-0 at 3:54.

Making history, Maurice recorded his 865th career win in the NHL, surpassing Lindy Ruff (864) for sole possession of fourth place on the league’s all-time list among head coaches.

“What hits me is sometimes I think back and I thought, ‘If I could coach 500 games in this league that would be something else.’” Maurice said of the milestone. “I think the average number is 250 or 350. Then you hit it and you go, ‘Man, if I could get 500 wins that would be something.' I have more fun coaching the game now than I’ve ever had in my life.”

THEY SAID IT

“We have a certain standard. It’s not an easy game to play, but if you play that game you should have fun. You should laugh and joke on the bench when something funny happens and you should be very present. If you like your work ethic. It’s hard to do that for 82 games with the way we play, and we had a little lull in it.” – Paul Maurice on the Panthers getting back to having fun with tonight’s win

“It was a solid game -- all periods, all shifts, everything. The guys did great, blocked shots at the right time, and the offense delivered. We were tight. We were together. We defended great. It was fun.” – Sergei Bobrovsky on Florida’s defensive performance

“Our group has been pretty good at staying even-keeled through this rough stretch. Any time you can have a game, a full 60-minute game like that, it’s going to be good for your confidence.” – Sam Bennett on the Panthers getting back to their game

CATS STATS

- The Panthers have scored nine goals within the opening two minutes this season.

- Matthew Tkachuk recorded his 24^th multi-point game of the season.

- The Panthers improved to 14-2-1 when Sam Bennett scores a goal.

- Sergei Bobrovsky is the fourth goaltender to record at least 10 career shutouts as a Panther.

- Anton Lundell went 8-for-9 (88.9%) in the faceoff circle.

- Josh Mahura blocked a team-high four shots on goal.

- Steven Lorentz accumulated a team-high six hits.

WHAT’S NEXT?

After 40 games on the road, just one remains this season.

Wrapping up their final regular-season trip, the Panthers will pay a visit to the division-rival Boston Bruins (45-17-15) at TD Garden on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.