Greening attributes winner to karma, Sens top Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Ottawa Senators center Colin Greening said goals "come in all shapes and forms."

Tuesday night, his tie-breaking goal came in the form of a deflection off his knee.

That fortuitous bounce -- which went high in the air and landed in the net -- helped the Senators battle back from a two-goal deficit to beat the Florida Panthers 4-2 at the BB&T Center.

"This was an odd goal, but I'll take it," said Greening, who scored with 42 seconds left in the second period after a slap shot by defenseman Joe Corvo. "I believe in karma. I've had games where I gave myself an opportunity to score, and it didn't go in."

Greening said he wasn't very worried about the video review to determine if the goal would stand.

"I was wondering what they were concerned about," he said. "It could have been that they thought it was a high stick. I didn't kick it in. It just hit off my knee."

Panthers goaltender Tim Thomas was philosophical about the goal.

"That's hockey," he said. "That happens. We should be getting (fluke-type) goals, too."

After Greening scored, Ottawa added one more. With 12:08 left in the third period, Senators right winger Bobby Ryan scored his 14th goal to make it 4-2. He took a pass from defenseman Jared Cowen and beat Thomas five-hole.

Ottawa, which came in having lost three of its past four games, now has 26 points.

Senators goalie Craig Anderson now has a 10-1-1 career record against the Panthers.

Anderson said attitude was an important part of the winning formula.

"We didn't get the start we wanted, and we just had to hit the re-set button," he said. "We got a little (ticked) off there. You have to get emotional. You have to have some fire in you. If you are satisfied giving up a 2-0 lead, you shouldn't be playing this game."

Florida, which lost three straight, all at home, has 19 points.

The Panthers' hot start came thanks to a surprising source. Their power play, ranked 29th in the league, got on track in the first period on a five-on-three opportunity following penalties on Ottawa centers Mike Hoffman (high sticking) and Jason Spezza (goaltender interference).

Panthers center Jonathan Huberdeau got the goal, his sixth of the season. The play began with a short shovel pass from defenseman Brian Campbell to left winger Tomas Fleischman, whose slap shot left a juicy rebound for Huberdeau.

The goal ended Fleischmann's 10-game pointless streak, the longest slump he had endured since 2009.

Still one man up, Florida struck again as Campbell took a cross-ice pass from right winger Scottie Upshall and roofed a shot that beat Anderson glove-side.

"The five-on-three was just great movement and shooting the puck," Panthers right winger Brad Boyes said. "And then the same thing on the other goal -- a great pass out to "Soup" (Campbell), and he ended up finding the net. It was good decisions with the puck and good vision."

The Senators got back in the game with 9:02 remaining in the first period when Corvo scored what appeared to be a soft goal from about 55 feet.

Then, with just 1:15 left in the first period, Ottawa tied the score at 2 on right winger Erik Condra's second goal of the season. Left winger Clarke MacArthur started the play with a pass behind the net to Spezza, who fed Condra in front.

Panthers coach Peter Horacek said he was unhappy with Ottawa's fourth goal, which he said came benefit of a defensive breakdown. He attributed the other goals to just plain bad luck.

"They had kind of a seeing-eye-dog goal on the first one," he said. "They had one go off a knee and bounce up in the air and go in. They had another one where the guy gets knocked out and is holding the stick, and it kind of goes in. But that's the breaks of the game."

NOTES: One day after saying Dmitry Kulikov is one of Florida's "most skilled" defensemen, coach Peter Horachek benched him. Kulikov, the 14th overall pick in the 2009 draft, has struggled as of late. ... C Scott Gomez was Florida's other healthy scratch. ... Healthy scratches for Ottawa were LW Matt Kassian and D Patrick Wiercioch. ... Ottawa C Mike Hoffman, recalled from Binghamton on Monday, was in the lineup. He was the second-leading scorer in the AHL with 11 goals and 15 assists. Drafted in 2009, Hoffman got just a combined total of four games in the NHL in his previous two call-ups. ... Ottawa sent LW Derek Grant and D Mark Borowiecki to Binghamton. ... Panthers' D Matt Gilroy (lower body) and D Ed Jovanovski (hip) are out. ... Panthers LW Scottie Upshall had a big November with six goals and 12 points in 14 games. ... Ottawa D Chris Phillips played his 1,000th NHL game Tuesday.