For the second straight game, the Ottawa Senators leaned hard on stellar goaltending to take down a Florida-based opponent. After Linus Ullmark's huge performance on Thursday in a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Anton Forsberg followed suit on Saturday afternoon.
Forsberg made 40 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Senators defeated the Florida Panthers 3-0 at Canadian Tire Centre.
Offensively, Jake Sanderson led the way for Ottawa with a goal and an assist. With 53 points, Sanderson is closing in on Brady Tkachuk (55) for top three in Sens scoring this season. As of this writing, he’s also in the top ten in scoring among NHL defensemen, moving one point past Erik Karlsson.
The Sens are now 31-1-6 when scoring first this season, and kept that pace going on Saturday. Just over 11 minutes into the game, Sanderson ripped home a one-timer on a nice centring pass from Shane Pinto, who was down below the goal line. Ridly Greig didn't get an assist, but it was his dump-in and forecheck that made it happen.
Less than three minutes later, on the power play, Drake Batherson missed a glorious chance on an open net, but his frustration lasted all of five seconds. Batherson tipped home Dylan Cozens' shot to make it 2-0.
And that was all the scoring for the day until Matthew Highmore put it away with an empty-netter, his first goal in almost three months. The most notable thing that happened after that was the packed house of 18,611 chanting, "WE WANT PLAYOFFS!"
As was the case on Sunday in his last start in Pittsburgh, where he posted a .971 save percentage, Forsberg was fantastic all afternoon as the Sens were outshot badlly again, this time 40-22. The veteran did let one past him with under two minutes left in the second period, but it was ruled that the puck had been tipped in with a high stick.
With the victory, the Senators are now nine points clear of the Eastern Conference playoff cut line with six games to play. Ending their playoff run has now transitioned from hope to inevitability. They’re now just four points behind the Panthers for third in the division.
The Senators return to action on Sunday (5 p.m.) in a back-to-back matinee scenario when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets. It's part one of a home-and-home series, and the Sens hope to keep their weekend warrior rep rolling. Saturday's win gives them a record of 13-3-1 on weekend games (Sat-Sun) in 2025.