The Ottawa Senators will try to complete a four-game homestand with their third straight victory, as they welcome the Florida Panthers for tonight's meeting at Scotiabank Place.
The Senators are 9-7-1 as the host this year after posting consecutive wins over Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Those wins come after Ottawa's 5-2 setback against Boston that kicked off the residency last week.
Ottawa also enters tonight on a seven-game winning streak in this series, as Florida hasn't defeated the Senators since a 3-0 win in Canada's capital city on Jan. 9, 2010. Ottawa won four straight on home ice against the Panthers since that loss occurred nearly two years ago.
The Sens notched a 4-1 win over the Sabres on Tuesday, as Erik Condra scored the go-ahead goal at the 7:59 mark of the third period. Zack Smith and Erik Karlsson also tallied for Ottawa, while Condra added an empty-netter. Craig Anderson stopped 22-of-23 shots for the win.
"I thought we did a real good job of sticking to the game plan and doing it for the full 60 minutes and not being distracted when the momentum shifted one way or the other. We did a real good job of getting momentum back on our side and our team game was really solid," Ottawa head coach Paul MacLean said.
Kyle Turris also notched an assist in his Ottawa debut. The forward was acquired from Phoenix last weekend for defenseman David Rundblad and a draft pick. Turris was the third overall pick of the 2007 draft, but he has just 19 goals and 28 assists in 138 NHL games.
The Senators will be without concussed forwards Milan Michalek and Jesse Winchester tonight. Michalek has missed the last three games since suffering his head injury against Buffalo on Dec. 13. Winchester was injured Tuesday on a hit from Sabres forward Paul Gaustad.
The Panthers were dealt a 2-1 regulation loss by visiting Phoenix on Tuesday, giving Florida a 2-1-1 record during a four-game homestand. Tonight's test marks the first of two straight on the road for the Southeast Division-leading Panthers, who are 10-7-1 as the guest this season.
Florida defenseman Brian Campbell had the lone goal in Tuesday's loss, while Jose Theodore made 20 saves. The setback snapped the Panthers' home points streak at eight games (6-0-2).
"We played hard as we always do down the stretch but we weren't able to pull tonight out," Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen said.
Florida forwards Sean Bergenheim (lower body), Mikael Samuelsson (upper body) and Marco Sturm (leg) are all questionable for tonight's game. Bergenheim sat out the last game, while Samuelsson and Sturm were injured in Tuesday's loss.
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