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Panthers take down Senators

Mar 5, 2012 - 6:49 AM Sunrise, FL (Sports Network) - Jack Skille recorded a goal and an assist as the Florida Panthers took down the Ottawa Senators, 4-2, at BankAtlantic Center.

Marcel Goc, Krystofer Barch and Mikael Samuelsson also lit the lamp for the Panthers, who snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Senators. Florida had not beaten Ottawa since January 9, 2010.

Scott Clemmensen stopped 23-of-25 shots as the Panthers won for the fourth time in six games.

Jared Cowen and Chris Neil scored for Ottawa, which dropped its second straight game. Robin Lehner stopped 24 shots in defeat.

Ottawa struck first at the 13:23 mark of the first period when Kyle Turris fought the puck out of a scrum in the corner and fed a pass to the left point, where Cowen sent a wrister that went through a crowd and into the short side.

Then, with 1:28 remaining in the opening frame, Jim O'Brien sent a backhander from the right of the net that was blocked in front, but Neil was there to fire the loose puck into the twine to give the Senators a 2-0 lead.

The Panthers, though, used a three-goal second period to take control of the game.

Goc put the Panthers on the board just 33 seconds into the middle stanza when he got his stick on Mike Weaver's shot from the right point and deflected it over Lehner's right shoulder.

Barch knotted the game at two a little over two minutes later when he received a pass from Skille at the Senators blue line and raced in on a breakaway. He faked to right before deking left and beating Lehner to the stick side at the 2:54 mark.

Samuelsson put the Panthers on top for good with 8:57 remaining in the second while on the power play, snapping a quick shot from the slot into the top- right corner.

"When you get as thoroughly outplayed as we did in the first period, I feel like there has to be some kind of response," Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen said. "I thought the response was extremely strong."

After Turris' hard wrister from the right circle beat Clemmensen but hit the post during a late Ottawa power play, Skille sealed the win for the Panthers when he raced down the left side of the ice before sweeping into the slot and wristing a shot into the top-right corner with 1:26 on the clock.

"Our competition level after the first period stayed the same and theirs, obviously, elevated to a higher level and they took over the game," Senators head coach Paul MacLean said.

Game Notes

Ottawa took the season series, 3-1...Senators forward Jason Spezza had his 11-game points streak snapped. He had eight goals and 14 assists in the streak...Weaver had two assists in the game...Panthers forward Kris Versteeg, who is the team's leading scorer, missed his fourth straight game with a lower body injury.