Lundell Scores OT Winner, Panthers defeat Senators 3-2

SUNRISE —  Anton Lundell scored the overtime winner Tuesday night as the Florida Panthers took down the Ottawa Senators 3-2 at Amerant Bank Arena. 

Lundell picked up a rare early shift in the overtime frame and made the most of it. On the edge of the goalline, Lundell waited out Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo before burying his eighth goal of the season top shelf.

“When I got the puck I saw the goalie was leaning a little bit forward. I just tried to hit the corner,” Lundell said. “Must be one of the coolest moments [I’ve had] in this building for sure.”

Aaron Ekblad opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the game — picking up his fourth goal of the season and second in his past three games. 

“It feels good. I’ve been snake bitten at different times this year,” Ekblad said. “To get a bounce like that off a guy’s stick, goes top corner, it’s great.”

Brandon Montour also scored his fourth goal of the season to extend the Panthers lead to two, 17:01 into the second. Montour has goals in consecutive games for the first time this season. 

Florida held a 2-0 lead entering the third period, but a pair of goals from Thomas Chabot and Tim Stutzle equalized things for the Senators before the end of regulation.

The Senators were able to keep the game close, due in large part to their penalty kill — which went a perfect 3/3 on the night. 

Florida’s power play has usually been a benefactor for them most of this season, but the Senators PK — which entered the night 30th in the league — kept the Panthers’ top-10 PP unit off the board.

The Panthers by no means had one of their better performances on Tuesday. They were caught a few times off the rush — their o-zone possession wasn’t to their usual standard — and they nearly wasted away a multi-goal lead. But at the end of the day, they were able to get out of the game with two points and remain on this post All-Star break heater.

“None of them prior (games over the winning streak), we hadn’t played poorly in one and today we did,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We found a way to win a game when things were not easy for us.”

The Panthers have won sixth-straight games and reclaimed the top spot in the Eastern Conference with the win.

Sergei Bobrovsky had 28 saves en route to his 28th win of the season. The Panthers improved to 37-15-4 with the result. 

Panthers notes

Aaron Ekblad returned to the lineup after missing Florida’s last game against Tampa with a lower-body injury

Sergei Bobrovsky has won his last seven starts

Florida’s next game is Thursday, Feb. 22 in Carolina