Anton Lundell scored 1:36 into overtime as the Florida Panthers defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla., for their sixth win in a row.
Lundell roofed the puck from a sharp angle along the left goal line as the Panthers moved past the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division and the top point total in the Eastern Conference.
Matthew Tkachuk, who battled against his brother Brady all night, got an assist on the decisive play as the Panthers won for the 10th time in 11 games.
Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky (28 saves) outdueled Joonas Korpisalo (31 saves) in a terrific goalie battle. Bobrovsky leads Eastern Conference goalies with 28 wins.
The Panthers have held opponents to two or fewer goals in 11 straight games.
Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist and Aaron Ekblad also scored for the Panthers. Ekblad missed Florida’s previous game, on Saturday at Tampa Bay, due to a lower-body injury.
Thomas Chabot logged a goal and an assist and Tim Stutzle scored the other goal for Ottawa, which took its third loss in four games.
Florida opened the scoring 19 seconds into the first period on a give-and-go play between Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe. Ekblad’s shot went in off Korpisalo’s stick.
The Panthers extended their lead to 2-0 at 17:01 of the second period. Montour’s first shot was blocked, but he gathered the rebound and fired the puck past Korpisalo’s blocker.
Ottawa got on the board 5:36 into the third period. The sequence started when Lundell blocked Chabot’s initial shot. Chabot — much like Montour — secured his own rebound and scored with the help of a heavy screen by Brady Tkachuk.
The Senators tied the score 2-2 on Stutzle’s spectacular goal at 8:46 of the third. Stutzle, on a 150-foot rush, badly faked out Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola and got past two other defenders before slipping the puck past Bobrovsky.
–Field Level Media
