Panthers embark on five-goal first period to wallop Senators

Carter Verhaeghe scored twice and Matthew Tkachuk and Seth Jones each recorded three assists during the Florida Panthers' five-goal first period in a 6-3 victory over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Tuesday in Sunrise, Fla.

Noah Gregor and Mackie Samoskevich notched goals in the first 1:06 of the game, while A.J. Greer also scored during a dominant opening period for the Panthers (36-35-3, 75 points), who outshot the Senators 18-6 in the frame.

Tkachuk capped his four-point night with a second-period goal. Verhaeghe assisted on that score and Sam Bennett had two helpers for Florida, which had lost three straight and six of the previous eight.

Drake Batherson and Jordan Spence posted second-period goals and Michael Amadio also scored for Ottawa (38-26-10, 86 points), which entered two points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, but has lost three in a row. Linus Ullmark was pulled with 5:24 left in the opening frame after allowing the game's first five goals on 16 shots.

The Panthers scored just eight seconds into the contest. On Jones' dump-in off the opening faceoff, the puck caromed off the end board, and thanks to some miscommunication between Ullmark and Spence, it ended up on the stick of Gregor to bury. Moments later, on the Panthers' second shot of the night via the power play, Samoskevich successfully redirected Jones' one-timer for a 2-0 lead.

The Panthers extended their lead with 10:51 remaining in the first. In the waning seconds of another power play, Verhaeghe banked the puck in off Ullmark's leg.

An Ottawa defensive breakdown allowed the Panthers to make it 4-0 as Greer sent home a perfect cross-slot pass from Eetu Luostarinen with 5:58 left in the opening period. Just 34 seconds later, Florida chased Ullmark when Verhaeghe converted via a 2-on-1 with Bennett.

Ottawa finally scored 1:40 into the second. Off a faceoff win, Batherson beat Florida's Daniil Tarasov (23 saves) with an open-slot wrister.

The Panthers, though, got that goal back off an Ottawa-zone turnover as Tkachuk beat James Reimer (12 saves) with 7:19 left in the middle frame.

Spence's point shot through traffic with 4:46 remaining in the second made it 6-2. Amadio beat Tarasov on the short side at 4:29 into the third.

--Field Level Media