Panthers Put Five Past Senators, Enter 4 Nations Break First in Atlantic Division

SUNRISE, Fla. — On the final night before the NHL takes a two week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Florida Panthers put on a show for the hometown crowd. 

The Panthers scored five unanswered goals on Saturday, taking down an Ottawa Senators team that is right in the mix of a jam packed Atlantic Division 5-1. 

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 27 shots and the Panthers remain first in the division with a 34-20-3 record entering the two week break. 

Aleksander Barkov, who will be captaining Team Finland at the 4 Nations tournament, had the game winner, while Matthew Tkachuk — who is part of the American’s 4 Nations leadership group — led all skaters with three points (1G, 2A).

Amidst the excitement for best-on-best international hockey, Saturday night gave a good preview of what’s to come when Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden put on for the world stage, as all six goals came from players who will be participating in the 4 Nations Face-Off. 

American forward Brady Tkachuk, brother of Matthew, scored the lone Senators goal 6:38 into the first to give his team a 1-0 lead. 

The Panthers would score the next five, with one player from each participating 4 Nation getting on the board. 

Gustav Forsling beat Ullmark, his soon to be Swedish teammate, for his eighth goal of the year, Canadian forward Sam Bennett scored his 18th goal of the year and Finnish forward Anton Lundell also scored with a shorthanded empty netter. 

Boasting a league-high eight players — with representation on every team — the 4 Nations Face-Off will be filled with Florida Panthers. 

“We’ve got so many people involved with it, personally I’m very interested,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of the tournament. “Even if we didn’t have as many people, I think it’s really good for the game. It’s best possibly for the fans because they get to cheer for a different team, they get to cheer for their country in-season, which I think is great. The players that get to go to this tournament, they won’t forget it.”

Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett have been teammates for most of their careers, with the pair going back to their early NHL days with the Calgary Flames. After linking up on Bennett’s goal Saturday night, the two close friends will have to temporarily be rivals come next week with Canada taking on USA at the Bell Centre in Montreal. 

“It’ll be different,” Bennett said when asked about facing Tkachuk at the 4 Nations tournament. “We’re great friends but [we’re] both such hard competitors. I think we can go at it pretty good on the ice and it’s not going to affect our friendship. I don’t expect him to go easy on me and I’m definitely not going to go easy on him. It’s going to be fun.”

With 4 Nations running from Feb. 12-20, the Panthers won’t be back in action until Feb. 22, when they host the Seattle Kraken at home. Before that, at least one Panther will be coming home as a champion — wearing their country’s colors.

Panthers Participation in 4 Nations Face-Off

FINLAND: Aleksander Barkov (captain), Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Niko Mikkola

CANADA: Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett

USA: Matthew Tkachuk (alternate captain)

SWEDEN: Gustav Forsling