Montour's late goal lifts Panthers past Senators

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Brandon Montour had a goal and two assists, including scoring the go-ahead goal late in the third period, for the Florida Panthers in a 5-3 win against the Ottawa Senators at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.

Montour made it 4-3 with 3:32 remaining, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle after receiving a pass from Aleksander Barkov.
"Lot of commotion in front of the net," Montour said. "I thought Barkov got it and he got it to me in the slot. It was the kind of game we wanted to have."

Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk each also had a goal and two assists for the Panthers (5-3-1), who had lost two in a row. Carter Verhaeghe had two goals and an assist, and Spencer Knight made 23 saves.
"We're shooting the puck now, and I think that had been a problem of ours, not shooting it enough," Verhaeghe said. "I think we're focusing on that, getting the puck to the net and working to get them in."
Anton Forsberg made 53 saves for the Senators (4-4-0). Brady Tkachuk scored in his first game against his brother since the Panthers acquired Matthew in a trade with the Calgary Flames on July 22.
Nick Holden scored for the Senators to tie the game 3-3 at 11:56 of the third period.
"Yeah, we have the team, we have the firepower to score," Holden said. "We just need to make sure consistently we're playing to our strength, which is fast hockey, getting pucks behind them, limiting other teams' time in our zone."

Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 7:59 of the first period with a wrist shot from the high slot after receiving a spinning backhand pass from Tkachuk.
Barkov made it 2-0 at 11:54 on the power play with his first goal of the season.
"It's nice, I'm not going to lie," Barkov said. "To be honest, I wasn't trying to score there, was just looking for the sticks."

Florida outshot Ottawa 26-4 in the first period.
"The first period, it's our worst period of the year for sure," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "Just weren't ready when the game started. We battled back and we gave up a goal at the end of the second period, and then we give up a goal with three minutes to go. I mean, we kept battling but we've got to be better than that."
Shane Pinto scored 37 seconds of the second period to cut it to 2-1, one-timing a pass from Claude Giroux on the power play. It was Pinto's sixth goal in the past seven games.
Brady Tkachuk tied it 2-2 at 3:23 with a shot from the left face-off dot.
Ottawa appeared to take a 3-2 lead at 5:26 of the second, but Tim Stutzle's goal was overturned after Florida coach Paul Maurice challenged the play for goaltender interference.
Verhaeghe then put Florida ahead 3-2 at 19:23 of the second when he one-timed Montour's pass at the top of the right circle.
After Montour scored the go-ahead goal, Tkachuk shot into an empty net with 14 seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
"It was a good win," Maurice said. "They had won four of the past five coming in, and are a quick strike team. They are a team that has some high-end skill with some talented young players, and if they catch you in open ice, they're going to finish."
NOTES: Senators forward Alex DeBrincat had his six-game point streak end. … Florida set a team record with 58 shots on goal.