RECAP: Panthers 3, Senators 2 (OT)

SUNRISE, Fla. – How do you say “thread the needle” in Finnish?

Picking a corner from a sharp angle, Anton Lundell netted one of the prettiest goals of his career at 1:36 of overtime to lift the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.

“It must be one of my coolest moments in this building, for sure,” said Lundell, who’s scored four goals over the last four games. “Overall, it got to overtime and I just waited for my opportunity. I got the puck and saw the short side was open and tried to fit it in there.”

Their sixth straight win – and the 10^th win in their last 11 games – the Panthers (37-15-4) have once again jumped ahead of the Boston Bruins (33-12-11) for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

While tonight’s win wasn’t perfect, the Panthers continue to show they can get it done.

“We found a way to win a game when things were not easy for us,” said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, citing the 29 shots his team had blocked and how it reflected their lack of quick hands and movement. “Our goaltender was very good. There was a play late in the third when Anton really, really backchecked hard. It won’t get noticed, but he killed the play in the corner and then broke the thing out. That’s why he went over [the boards] in overtime.”

Just 19 seconds into the first period, Aaron Ekblad, who looked no worse for wear after missing the last game due a lower-body injury, put the Panthers up 1-0 when he skated into the right circle, took a pass from Carter Verhaeghe and fired a shot past Joonas Korpisalo.

Ekblad’s goal was the second-fastest scored by a defenseman to begin a game in franchise history.

“It’s great,” Ekblad said. “It’s nice to see.”

With just under seven minutes left in the first period, Sergei Bobrovsky stoned Brady Tkachuk on a breakaway to keep the Senators off the board. Soon after, the Panthers held Ottawa’s power play to just two shots with a stalwart performance on the penalty kill.

Continuing to come up in the clutch for the Panthers, Bobrovsky denied Shane Pinto on a shot from the left circle on a 2-on-1 rush just before the midway point of the second period.

That was one of nine high-danger saves for No. 72, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

“Your hands are slow and your feet aren’t moving, so your goaltender has to be really good,” Maurice said. “Our goaltending has been very good. We haven’t asked them to be the difference too, too often. They’ve had to be as good as the other guy a bunch of nights, and that’s usually true of any kind of playoff team game. But we needed him to be the guy tonight, and he was.”

Finishing with 28 saves, Bobrovsky, who ranks third in the NHL with 28 wins, has been on another level in recent weeks. On a personal seven-game winning streak, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner hasn’t surrendered more than two goals in any of those starts.

“Confidence is everything,” Ekblad said of Bobrovsky’s hot streak. “It’s never easy to gain in this league. He’s doing the right thing and making the big saves at the right time every night. It’s really easy to come to work every day when you’ve got a brick wall behind you.”

With more offense coming from the blue line, Brandon Montour doubled the lead for the Panthers when he gloved down a clearing attempt, had his first shot blocked, and then fired the puck straight past Korpisalo’s blocker on his second attempt to make it 2-0 at 17:01.

Montour has scored in each of his last two games.

“I’m getting chances,” Montour said. “You just have to keep working. Hit posts, big saves, and just keep playing hard in my own end and it’s going to come. It’s nice to produce. That’s a strength of mine, just helping offensively. It’s nice to get a few games together there.”

Cutting the deficit in half for the Senators, Thomas Chabot, not long after being upended by a beautiful hip-check from Dmitry Kulikov, fired a shot past Bobrovsky’s glove to make it 2-1 at 5:36.

Evening the score for Ottaw just over three minutes later, Tim Stutzle flew down the center of the ice, cut through the defense and sent the puck through Bobrovsky’s five-hole to make it 2-2 at 8:46.

With the action eventually getting into overtime, Lundell played the role of hero when he took a pass from Matthew Tkachuk, carried the puck into the bottom of the left circle and fired a short-side snipe past Korpisalo to lock in the 3-2 win.

For the 22-year-old former first-round pick, the overtime goal was the first of his budding career.

“It’s fitting,” Ekblad said. “He deserves it. He’s getting inside on puck battles. He’s making the right play all the time and then goes and makes a highlight-reel, ESPN Top 10 play."

THEY SAID IT

“You need to earn it. You try to do everything you can well during the whole game so you show them you’re good in that game and you earn that opportunity to go out in overtime.” – Anton Lundell

“Just keep getting ready. Focus on our strengths. Again, we were in these other teams’ positions, chasing [to get into the playoffs] and playing our best hockey down the stretch. For us, obviously we’re in a little bit of a different scenario and more comfortable than last year. We’ve just got to keep playing hard and playing our best hockey.” – Brandon Montour

“A 3-2 win? You could probably script it better than the way it happened, but that’s the kind of muck that we want to be in.” – Aaron Ekblad

CATS STATS

- Aaron Ekblad and Sam Reinhart each blocked two shots.

- Ryan Lomberg recorded two hits.

- Matthew Tkachuk has earned at least one point in 20 of his last 22 games.

- Brandon Montour has logged five points (2G, 3A) over his last two games.

- The Panthers led 64-41 in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

- The Panthers have held the Senators to just two goals in their two meetings this season.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Who’s down for a quick trip up north?

Heading out of town for one game, the Panthers will face off against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

The second of three meetings between the two Eastern Conference squads, the Panthers cruised to a 5-2 win over the Hurricanes in their first matchup on Nov. 10 in Sunrise.