Panthers at Senators
Two teams coming off disappointing performances meet when the Florida Panthers visit the Ottawa Senators for an Atlantic Division battle Saturday night. The Panthers followed up two straight wins with a 6-1 loss in Toronto on Thursday while the Senators, who netted only 10 goals in their last eight games, were routed by Nashville 5-1 on the same night.
“We stayed in the game for a long time, but we just didn’t have it,” Ottawa defenseman Erik Karksson told reporters after Thursday’s loss. “It wasn’t one or two guys. It was everybody. We need to find a way to have a better game Saturday.” Karlsson leads the team with 14 points and the Senators are expected to have Craig Anderson (8-3-1, .934 save percentage) back in net after he was rested Thursday. Florida won consecutive games (New York Islanders, Montreal) for the first time since the opening two of the season before laying an egg in Toronto. “A lot of guys didn’t play good hockey at all,” Panthers’ coach Gerard Gallant told reporters. “. … We probably played 20 good minutes the whole game and that’s not good enough.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Florida, Sportsnet One, TVAS2 (Ottawa)
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (8-8-1): Florida has been inconsistent on offense and defense throughout the season, in part because of injuries which have taken away two of its top seven forwards - Nick Bjugstad (hand) and Jonathan Huberdeau (Achilles). The Panthers have still shown they can compete with recent wins over Tampa Bay and Montreal while getting strong performances from newcomers such as Jonathan Marchessault (team-high 14 points). Florida needs a revival from forwards Aleksander Barkov and Jaromir Jagr, who have combined for only three goals.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (10-6-1): Bobby Ryan (hand) left Thursday’s game while fellow forward Mike Hoffman (lower body) missed the Nashville contest and both are questionable for Saturday. That could take two key offensive weapons away from a struggling offense that has only one forward with 10 points – Kyle Turris (eight goals, two assists). Ryan Dzingel (five goals, nine points) has been productive, but the Senators will need more from fellow forwards Mark Stone (three, eight) and Derick Brassard (two, seven), along with defenseman Dion Phaneuf (one, four).
OVERTIME
1. Florida D Aaron Ekblad has scored in back-to-back games and has four in all without an assist.
2. The Senators have killed off all 31 power-play opportunities over the last 12 contests, but are 2-for-32 with the man advantage in the last 10.
3. The Panthers placed D Alex Petrovic (lower-body) on injured reserve Friday and recalled D Jakub Kindl.