Ullmark victorious in Senators debut to top defending champion Panthers

OTTAWA — Linus Ullmark’s official debut with the Senators was a success, with the goaltender making 30 saves in a 3-1 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

With the Senators holding a 2-1 lead in the third, Ullmark was solid making saves on Anton Lundell, Mackie Samoskevich and Carter Verhaeghe.

Ottawa took a two-goal lead in the first with Tim Stutzle’s power-play goal and a great solo effort from Shane Pinto to beat Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 29 saves, with a laser over the shoulder.

Gustav Forsling scored the lone goal for the Panthers (1-1-0).

Takeaways

Senators: A priority for Ottawa this season is better defensive play overall and with 27 blocked shots in the win, the Senators got off to a good start.

Panthers: The Panthers were slow to get started in the first period and paid the price, allowing Ottawa to jump out to a 2-0 lead and set the pace for the game.

Key moment

The Panthers pulled Bobrovsky with just over a minute remaining and when Aleksander Barkov went to take a shot from the point his stick broke, setting up a race for the puck with Stutzle winning the battle to score into an empty net.

Barkov had to be helped off the ice after colliding with Stutzle.

Key stat

Ullmark came into the game with a 9-1-0 record against Florida in his last 10 starts against the Panthers.

Up next

Senators: The Senators head to Montreal on Saturday to take on the Canadiens before hosting the Los Angeles Kings on Monday afternoon.

Panthers: Are on a four-game road trip with their next stop in Buffalo Saturday night to face the Sabres.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.