"Last time we faced them they thumped us pretty good," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said of the Senators following this morning's skate in Sunrise. "They're capable, very capable, and a team that's coming up in our division. We have to be very ready for them tonight."
After returning from their mid-season break with three straight road wins at Carolina, Minnesota and Chicago, the Panthers have dropped each of the first three games of their five-game homestand, including a tough 4-3 loss at the hands of the Oilers in their last outing on Saturday.
As it has been during each loss in their slump, the Panthers didn't end up on the right side of the end result despite winning the possession battle against the Oilers. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, they utterly dominated Edmonton in both shot attempts (75-38) and scoring chances (45-25).
Breaking through, Anton Lundell scored once, Aleksander Barkov netted a pair of goals to up his team-high total to 25, and Jonathan Huberdeau, who ranks third in the NHL in scoring with 75 points (18 goals, 57 assists), dished out an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games.
Sitting at 35-13-5 and trailing the cross-state rival Lightning by just a single point for the top spot in a tight Atlantic Division, the Panthers have built up an outstanding 23-6-0 record on home ice.
"We've got to get out of a little bit of a skid here, get back to how we play at home," Brunette said.
Entering tonight's tilt with losses in seven of their last 10 games, the Senators fell to 19-28-5 after a 5-2 loss at Tampa Bay on Tuesday. After taking a 2-0 lead against the Lightning less than four minutes after the puck dropped, Ottawa went on to surrender five straight goals.
Brady Tkachuk leads the Senators in scoring with 38 points (17 goals, 21 assists), while Thomas Chabot has the most assists (23), and Josh Norris has scored the most goals (18).
Manning the crease against the Panthers, it'll either be Matt Murray, who has started each of the last two games, or Anton Forsberg. Looking very similar in terms of statistics, Murray is 5-11-2 with a .915 save percentage, while Forsberg is 11-8-2 behind a .917 save percentage.
For the home team, Sergei Bobrovsky will man Florida's cage. Owning a 26-6-3 record with a .915 save percentage, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner is tied for first in the NHL in wins at home, posting a 16-3-0 record with a .919 save percentage over 21 appearances in Sunrise.
In their last seven head-to-head matchups, the Panthers have gone 5-2-0 while outscoring the Senators 33-23 over that span.
"They're young and out to prove how good they are and how good they want to be," Brunette said of Ottawa. "For them, I'm sure they're thinking this is a huge test. They're playing one of the top teams in the league and want to make a statement."
