Senators beat Panthers on OT penalty shot
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored on an overtime penalty shot, his second goal of the night, to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 comeback victory over the Florida Panthers Thursday night in Ottawa.
Pageau, who was hauled down during a breakaway late in a wild overtime that featured multiple scoring chances at both ends, had a quick word with his netminder Craig Anderson before he went down the ice and buried a five-hole shot on James Reimer with just 12.9 seconds on the clock at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Senators, long ago eliminated from playoff contention, snapped a six-game losing skid, while the Panthers ended up lamenting a lost point in the standings. Florida sits three points behind the New Jersey Devils for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Florida, with a game in hand on New Jersey, has six games left in the season.
After a scoreless first period, Pageau broke the deadlock 84 seconds into the second. Reimer failed to cover a puck when he had the chance, and in the resulting scramble Pageau tucked it into the cage.
Florida's Aaron Ekblad responded with his 16th goal of the season at the 5:19 mark of the middle frame to draw even. He gained the puck just inside the blue line and worked his way to the slot before firing a shot past Anderson. Ekblad's tally is a career high and ties him with Jason Garrison for most in a season by a Panthers defenseman.
Just 91 seconds later, Evgenii Dadonov potted his 26th goal of the campaign to put the Panthers ahead 2-1. He took advantage of the Senators' defenders backing too deep into the zone and fired from the slot, putting it off the post and in the net to run his goal-scoring streak to three straight games and giving him 22 points (10-12-22) over his last 18 games.
However Ottawa's Magnus Paajarvi scored just 16 seconds into the third period to pull the hosts even. Paajarvi deflected Zack Smith's point shot, a goal on which Erik Karlsson collected his 50th assist of the season, a mark he's reached five times.
Anderson made 24 saves in the win, while Reimer took the loss despite a 27-save effort.
--Field Level Media
