Sunrise, FL – Craig Anderson came back to haunt his old team on Wednesday.
The 30-year old goaltender, who used to wear a Panthers sweater, made 42 saves Wednesday to backstop the Ottawa Senators to a 6-2 win over Florida at BankAtlantic Center.
Milan Michalek finished with a goal and two assists, Daniel Alfredsson and Kaspars Daugavins had a goal and an assist, while Jim O'Brien, Filip Kuba, and Bobby Butler also scored for the Senators, who have won three of their last four games. Jason Spezza contributed three assists in the victory.
Shawn Matthias and Sean Bergenheim scored for the Panthers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Scott Clemmensen gave up four goals on 16 shots before he was pulled in favor of Jose Theodore, who stopped 13-of-15 shots in relief.
Ottawa opened the scoring at 5:35 of the opening period after Nick Foligno ripped a shot from the right circle that missed the net and caromed off the back boards. O'Brien chased down the loose puck and stuffed home the wrap- around attempt to give the Sens a 1-0 advantage.
Florida responded to tie the game at 11:47 of the first frame after Matthias raced through the neutral zone to the left circle and fired a wrist shot high over the left shoulder of Anderson.
Ottawa came out on fire in the second stanza and scored three consecutive goals to grab a comfortable 4-1 lead after two periods.
The first goal of the period came 5:18 into the second period after Brian Lee let a slap shot go from the right point that was tipped past a screened Clemmensen by Daugavins.
The Sens used some more nifty passing in the offensive zone to make it 3-1 at the 7:24 mark after Spezza came flying through the neutral zone and slammed on the brakes just inside the blue line on the left wing. He then found a cutting Michalek, who spun it to Butler in front for the tip-in.
Ottawa ballooned the lead to 4-1 while shorthanded at 14:06 to cap the second period when Alfredsson accepted a pass from Daugavins right up the gut, went in alone on Clemmensen and lifted a backhander into the net to send Clemmensen to an early shower.
Michalek found the back of the net with a tip-in off a perfect pass from Erik Karlsson just 1:24 into the third period to make it 5-1 Senators.
Florida got one back on the power play 4:25 into the final period when Bergenheim tipped one home from in front off a shot from Campbell to make it 5-2, but the Sens answered with a power-play tally of their own with 5:06 to play in regulation when Kuba beat Theodore with a wrister from the right circle.
Game Notes
Florida fell to 6-16-7 when notching two goals or less this season...Anderson spent parts of three seasons (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09) with the Panthers before signing with the Colorado Avalanche for the 2009-10 season...Ottawa finished 1-for-4 with the man advantage, while the Panthers converted 1-of-5 power play chances.
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