A goal and an assist from Brady Tkachuk helped the Ottawa Senators beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 on Monday night.
Erik Brannstrom, Alex DeBrincat, Tim Stützle and Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators. Mads Sogaard made 32 saves for the win.
The Panthers (36-31-7) who have now lost four in a row, got two goals from Gustav Forsling and a 21-save performance from Sergei Bobrovsky.
With the Senators holding a slim 3-2 lead late in the game, Stützle scored at 17:37 of the third period to give the Senators the insurance goal they needed.
Pinto then scored into an empty net with 90 seconds remaining to seal the match.
With virtually no room for error in their pursuit of a playoff berth, the Senators started the game strong and took a 2-0 lead before the first 20 minutes were up.
Tkachuk scored the game’s first goal midway through the first period and Brannstrom doubled the lead with just over a minute left in the period.
Forsling scored his first goal of the game in the second period and completed his double in the third period.
