RECAP: Panthers 6, Senators 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – A sweep to start the season?

Don’t mind if we do!

Improving to 3-0-0 and capping off a perfect homestand, the Florida Panthers cruised to a 6-2 win over the Ottawa Senators at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

So far, the Panthers have trailed for just 1:03 this season.

“We’re a well-oiled machine and we feel good about our game to start,” said defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who was named the game’s first star. “Obviously, we have a set of rules we adhere to on a daily basis and we try to bring that to our game every day.”

After netting the game-winning goal on a wicked snipe against Philadelphia on Thursday, Brad Marchand carried that sizzling stick into the first period against the Senators.

Sprung free on a breakaway by a nice pass from Seth Jones, Marchand flew down the ice with two Senators in hot pursuit before sneaking a backhand shot underneath the left arm of a diving Linus Ullmark to break the ice and put the Panthers on top 1-0 at 6:08.

Per NHL stats, it was Marchand’s 84^th career game-opening goal.

“He’s got a knack for the puck, knack for plays off the rush,” Jones said of Marchand’s breakaway. “He’s a great finisher. I saw him going and just tried to put it in an area. He’s going to win those races nine out of 10 times.”

Doubling the lead for the Panthers, Evan Rodrigues fired a shot from the left circle that caught a piece of Ullmark before sliding across the goal line to make it 2-0 at 9:54.

Off to a hot start, Rodrigues has a point in all three games so far this season.

“I think the Rodrigues line has had a really big impact on the way we play,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the team’s speedy third line. “I think they’ve been especially very good. For kind of smaller, quick guys, they’ve done hard things that have made us look really solid.”

Halving the deficit for the Senators, Shane Pinto caught Sergei Bobrovsky out of the net and scored before Florida’s goaltender could get back into position to make it 2-1 at 17:33.

Taking advantage of a power play that carried over from the first period, the Panthers regained their two-goal cushion just 25 seconds into the second when Ekblad snapped a shot from the top of the left circle past a screen Ullmark to make it 3-1.

With the power play converting again later in the period, the Panthers tacked on another goal when Anton Lundell tipped in a point shot from Jeff Petry to make it 4-1 at 18:28.

Earning a four-minute trip to the man advantage after Eetu Luostarinen was high-sticked by Thomas Chabot, the Panthers cashed in again on the power play when Mackie Samoskevich beat Ullmark with a top-shelf snipe from in tight to make it 5-1 at 5:29.

Through three games, Florida’s power play is operating at 41.7%.

“We’re just so deep and so close,” Samoskevich said of the power play. “The first unit is going to do their thing. They’re such good players. They jell so well. I think even our second unit, we’re pretty tight-knit and know where guys are going to be and stuff like that.”

Keeping their foot on the gas, the Panthers continued to pile up on the Senators and upped their lead to 6-1 when Sam Reinhart, who led Florida with 39 goals last season, took a slick dish from Gustav Forsling and beat Ullmark with a wicked wrist shot from the slot at 11:14.

“Everyone has stepped up a little bit here to start the season,” Jones said of the team’s depth scoring. “Everyone understands there’s a little more pressure on each individual game to be better with the guys we have out of the lineup, key guys especially.”

Getting one back for Ottawa late in regulation, Pinto, who did a lot of the heavy lifting for Ottawa, beat Bobrovsky with a sharp-angle shot from the goal line to make it 6-2 at 17:35.

Improving to 3-0-0, Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves on 28 shots against.

“It’s a good start, a good start,” Bobrovsky said. “We’ve played good games.”

THEY SAID IT

“We’re excited to get on the road. You kind of get to hang out with the guys a little bit more. That should be a lot of fun.” – Seth Jones

“Just our consistency to do the right things. We try to preach about all those obvious things that we do, like dumping the puck in and rimming the puck and whatnot.” – Aaron Ekblad

“We’re so deep in here, so close in here. Really proud of the guys kind of bearing down and stepping up.” – Mackie Samoskevich

“I think their attention to detail has been really, really good. They’ve come in with the focus that we have to be right in the systems part of our game.” – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- Carter Verhaeghe is now tied Viktor Kozlov for ninth place on the Panthers all-time list scoring list with 291 points.

- The Panthers are the second reigning Stanley Cup champion in the past 25 years to win their first three games of the season.

- Florida went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 3-for-5 on the power play.

- A.J. Greer and Jonah Gadjovich each recorded five hits.

- The Panthers led 13-7 in shot attempts and 2-0 in goals when Evan Rodrigues was deployed at 5-on-5.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Time to hit the road!

Packing their bags for the first time this season, the Panthers will open a five-game road trip with a battle against the Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.

To learn how to watch, click HERE.