Recap: Senators can't contain the Panthers

The Senators fell behind to the Panthers early and couldn’t claw their way back into the game on Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

The 6-0 final marked Ottawa’s second straight loss in April after winning five in a row to end March.

“Obviously, they outplayed us. I thought early on the first power play we had some good opportunities. We moved the puck but, you know, we didn’t score,” said interim head coach Jacques Martin. “I think we have to learn from those situations and we just have to be ready to bounce back.”

Nick Cousins opened the scoring just over a minute into the first period, followed quickly by Dmitry Kulikov just 35 seconds later, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

The Senators managed 14 shots in the first period, many of which came on their four power plays, but they never got close to cutting into the Florida lead.

“This morning, we emphasized having to have a good start because we knew they’d be coming out strong,” said Jake Sanderson. “We have been playing some really good hockey here and it’s embarrassing when you come home and we put in an effort like that in front of our fans.”

The second period started much the same, with the Panthers getting goals from Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett at 2:35 and 4:19 of the period, respectively. Ottawa managed only six shots on goal, and Anton Forsberg came in to relieve Joonas Korpisalo, who only managed to stop 13 of the 17 shots he faced.

After the goalie change, Sam Reinhart scored on Forsberg with 2:04 remaining in the second frame.

The third period opened with the sole power-play goal of the game from Matthew Tkachuk on the Panthers’ second man advantage. Sergei Bobrovsky finished the game with 30 saves for the shutout.

“I don’t know what the case was tonight,” Brady Tkachuk said after the game. “You know nothing went right... it’s something that we need to look at, analyze and we have a lot more work to do.”

The Senators will practice tomorrow before facing off against the New Jersey Devils for Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday.