By Canadian Press

Stolarz helps Panthers blank Senators 2-0

Apr 9, 2024 | 8:39 PM

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Stolarz stopped 24 shots and had an assist, Anton Lundell and Nick Cousins scored, and the Florida Panthers shut out the Ottawa Senators for the third time this season with a 2-0 victory on Tuesday night.

It was the second instance of Florida shutting out a team three times in one season, the other coming when the Panthers blanked Montreal three times in 2017-18. And it was a needed win for playoff-bound Florida, with the Panthers winning for just the fourth time in their last 13 games (4-7-2).

Joonas Korpisalo stopped 27 shots for Ottawa, which has four games left and will miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. The Senators were 0-3-1 against Florida this season, getting outscored 16-2 in those contests.

The Panthers opened a four-game homestand that’ll end the regular season and wasted little time taking control, with Lundell getting a power-play goal for his 12th of the season and Cousins netting his seventh of the season just 2:46 apart in the opening period.

Stolarz got his second assist of the year — and fourth of his career — when he skated out of his net to control a long clear by the Senators. He sent the puck back across centre ice to Lundell, who skated in alone and beat Korpisalo to open the scoring.

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It was the ninth time a Florida goalie got an assist while recording a shutout. Stolarz joined Tomas Vokoun, Trevor Kidd, John Vanbiesbrouck and James Reimer as goalies who pulled off that feat for the Panthers. The only other time it happened this season, according to SportRadar, was April 2 when Boston’s Linus Ullmark did it against Nashville.

Cousins scored from the high slot to make it 2-0, and that was more than enough. Stolarz made two point-blank saves early in the third to preserve the shutout.

UP NEXT

Senators: Visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

Panthers: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press