Panthers shut out Senators, near home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs
It’s official — this is the second-greatest regular season in Florida Panthers history.
The Panthers, who shut out the visiting Ottawa Senators, 2-0, on Tuesday night, have 104 points. This season’s Panthers passed the 2015-2016 team (103 points). But with just three games left, Florida’s franchise record of 122 points — set in 2021-2022 — is out of reach.
A word of caution for Panthers fans however: Those two other 100-points-plus teams took early exits from the playoffs. The 2015-2016 Panthers lost in the first round, and the 2021-2022 squad was swept out of the second round by Tampa Bay.
And, historically, the two Panthers teams that made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, including last year, finished the regular season with exactly 92 points each.
But that’s history — literally.
At the moment, the Panthers are looking to secure home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Their final three games, all at home, are: Thursday against Columbus, Saturday against Buffalo and Tuesday against the charging Toronto Maple Leafs.
Florida needs to stay ahead of Toronto (101 points) to secure home ice. The Panthers are also just three points behind Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division.
As for Tuesday’s win, the Panthers can thank backup goalie Anthony Stolarz, who earned his second shutout of the season while also picking up his fourth career assist.
Only four other Panthers goalies have ever recorded a shutout and dished an assist in the same game: John Vanbiesbrouck, James Reimer, Tomas Vokoun and Trevor Kidd.
“At the end of the day,” Stolarz said, “the shutout was the most important thing.”
The game’s biggest stars — Florida’s Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk and Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk — were all held without a point. Reinhart leads the Panthers in goals (53) and points (90). Matthew Tkachuk has 84 points. Brady Tkachuk, his brother, has 68 points.
Stolarz, who made 25 saves, improved to 15-7-2 this season, and the Panthers would likely not be anywhere near 100 points with an ordinary backup goalie behind starter Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Panthers (49-24-6) also got one goal each by Anton Lundell and Nick Cousins.
Florida played without defensemen Aaron Ekblad (injury) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (rest). The Panthers were also without forward Carter Verhaeghe (injury), who ranks second on the team in goals (33).
The Senators (34-40-4, 72 points), who have been eliminated from playoff contention for the seventh straight season, finished their season series against Florida with a 0-3-1 record.
Of those four losses, three came by shutouts. Florida won the other one on an overtime goal by Lundell.
Tuesday’s game featured two fights in the first seven minutes: between Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich and Ottawa’s Zack MacEwen; and between the Panthers’ Niko Mikkola and the Senators’ Ridly Greig.
Florida, though, opened the scoring on a power play that started with Stolarz’s outstanding stretch pass, catching Ottawa on a line change. The pass connected with Lundell, who scored on a breakaway with 7:58 left in the first.
“We haven’t seen a pass like that even from our own defensemen this season,” Lundell said. “That was a real pass.”
The Panthers extended their lead to 2-0 on Cousins’ goal with 5:12 remaining in the opening period.
Florida was fortunate on the play as Mikkola tried to pass the puck to Tkachuk. However, Mikkola fanned, and Cousins pounced, scoring from the slot.
The second period was noteworthy in that it featured just seven shots on goal, four by Ottawa.
There were 24 shots on goals in the third —13 by Florida — but no goals.
However, the low-scoring game didn’t bother Panthers coach Paul Maurice at all.
“I’ll take a 2-0 game,” Maurice said, “over a 7-6 game any day.”
