NHL

Florida Panthers at Ottawa Senators

· National Hockey League
Final
3 - 2

Forsling, Verhaeghe each have goal and assist as Panthers beat Senators 3-2

Florida Panthers vs. Ottawa Senators: Game Highlights

Evan Rodrigues also scored for the Panthers, and Sergei Bobrovsky had 18 saves. Florida snapped a two-game skid and got its second win in six games (2-3-1).

Fabian Zetterlund and Claude Giroux scored for Ottawa, which has lost four straight. Leevi Merilainen finished with 18 saves while allowing three goals for the fourth straight game.

The Panthers took a 3-1 lead at 3:43 of the third when Forsling stepped into the faceoff circle and wired a shot high glove side.

Giroux pulled the Senators back within one as he scored from a sharp angle with 1:42 remaining. Ottawa couldn't beat Bobrovsky again.

Ottawa opened the scoring 4:03 into the game when Zetterlund took the puck behind the net, curled and put a shot on Bobrovsky from a sharp angle. The puck bounced off his blocker and rolled down his back across the goal line.

The Panthers answered with a power-play goal with 8:26 remaining in the first. Rodrigues took advantage of a poor defensive play by Tim Stutzle and beat Merilainen far side.

Both teams had a number of chances in the second period, but the Panthers eventually got the go-ahead goal.

Florida's power play capitalized with Verhaeghe using Nick Jensen, who had fallen, as a screen to beat Merilainen glove side with 6:47 remaining.

Verhaeghe then earned the ire of fans late in the second for pushing Artem Zub from behind into the boards. The initial call on the play was a five-minute major but upon review reduced to a minor for boarding.

Sandis Vilmanis made his NHL debut for the Panthers.

Up next Panthers: Visit Buffalo on Monday night.

Senators: Host Vancouver on Tuesday night.

Regular Season Series

FLA leads series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 4:03 Fabian Zetterlund Goal (11) Wrist Shot, assists: Shane Pinto (10), Claude Giroux (22)
Goal 1st Period 11:34 Evan Rodrigues Goal (9) Wrist Shot, assists: Aaron Ekblad (14)
Goal 2nd Period 13:13 Carter Verhaeghe Goal (13) Wrist Shot, assists: Gustav Forsling (14), Anton Lundell (19)
Goal 3rd Period 3:48 Gustav Forsling Goal (2) Slap Shot, assists: Aaron Ekblad (15), Carter Verhaeghe (18)
Goal 3rd Period 18:18 Drake Batherson Goal (17) Tip-In, assists: Claude Giroux (23), Jake Sanderson (25)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/fla.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originFLA https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/ott.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originOTT
6 Blocked Shots 14
24 Hits 20
6 Takeaways 5
21 Shots 19
2 Power Play Goals 0
4 Power Play Opportunities 5
50.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
28 Faceoffs Won 33
45.9 Faceoff Win Percent 54.1
12 Giveaways 13
6 Total Penalties 5
12 Penalty Minutes 10
Ottawa Senators Ottawa Senators Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Linus Ullmark, G Injured Reserve Jan 8
Florida Panthers Florida Panthers Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Brad Marchand, LW Out Jan 12
Seth Jones, D Injured Reserve Jan 10
Jonah Gadjovich, LW Injured Reserve Jan 5
Cole Schwindt, C Injured Reserve Jan 5
Matthew Tkachuk, LW Injured Reserve Jan 5

Game Information

Canadian Tire Centre

Location: Ottawa, ON
Attendance: 17,085 | Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Detroit 28 15 60 4
Tampa Bay 28 13 59 3
Montreal 26 14 58 6
Toronto 23 15 53 7
Buffalo 24 16 52 4
Boston 25 19 52 2
Florida 24 18 51 3
Ottawa 20 19 45 5
Full Standings