Panthers edge Senators

Sunrise, FL – Dmitry Kulikov scored a go-ahead, power-play goal in the third period and Scott Clemmensen outplayed the returning Craig Anderson in leading the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Clemmensen made a season-high 40 saves and Marcel Goc added another goal for the Panthers, who still sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference despite winning four of their last five games.

"You just keep playing, you just try to stop that next shot," said Clemmensen.

Anderson, sidelined since Feb. 21 with an ankle injury, faced just 17 shots and allowed two goals in defeat.

The Senators, who are currently sixth in the East standings, have dropped four straight and are winless three games into a seven-game road trip.

"When you're down to 10 games left in your season, I think that's more of a motivator than anything else," Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said. "I thought we dominated the game for the most part, but we got goalied. We've done that to other teams in the past."

Crisp passing helped the Senators score at the 12:26 mark of the opening period, as Mika Zibanejad controlled the puck behind the net and threw the puck out front to Jakob Silfverberg, who found an open Cory Conacher on the left doorstep for an easy tap-in.

Goc tipped in Tomas Fleischmann's point shot 68 seconds into the middle period, and Clemmensen's 14 saves in the frame kept it even heading into the third.

Shortly after Ottawa defenseman Sergei Gonchar was whistled for holding, Kulikov beat Anderson with a wrister from the point with 9:14 left in regulation.

Florida killed off a two-minute minor on Peter Mueller late in the game and survived a breathless final minute after Ottawa pulled Anderson for an extra attacker. Clemmensen was tested with 16 shots over the final 20 minutes.

Game Notes

Anderson was 8-4-2 with a 1.49 goals against average and .952 save percentage before getting injured ... Ottawa had won 11 of the previous 12 meetings and was looking to sweep the three-game season series.