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Foligno's game winner with 2.5 left lifts Ottawa over Florida

Oct 28, 2011 - 3:36 AM Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - Nick Foligno netted the game-winning goal with just 2.5 seconds left in regulation, lifting the Ottawa Senators to a dramatic 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers from Scotiabank Place.

Trailing 3-2, the Panthers tied it at three with just 47 seconds left, but the Senators kept the pressure on as Foligno slammed home the rebound off a slapshot from the right circle by Daniel Alfredsson.

"We're fresh, we've been skating a lot since training camp," Foligno said of his team's energy level late in games. "We just play to the last whistle and it's a big reason why we're winning these games."

Alfredsson finished with a goal and an assist, while Colin Greening and Stephane Da Costa scored the other goals for the Senators, who got 22 saves from Craig Anderson to earn their fourth consecutive win.

Jason Garrison, Stephen Weiss and Kris Versteeg scored for Florida, which got 34 saves from Jacob Markstrom in defeat.

Florida grabbed the lead at 4:41 of the first period with some fantastic passing off the rush. Versteeg raced the puck up the ice into the offensive zone and left a perfect drop-pass in the slot for Garrison, who got everything into the shot and fired a slapshot glove side past Anderson to make it 1-0.

The Sens tied the game at one at 5:27 of the second period on a delayed penalty with the extra attacker. Sergei Gonchar pinched in at the left point to keep the puck in the zone and pushed it to Alfredsson on the half-wall, who sent it cross-ice to Jason Spezza in the slot. Spezza got off a quick shot that was stopped by Markstrom, but the Senators captain pounced on the rebound and rammed it home.

The Panthers re-took the lead at 2-1 just 1:08 later with some more excellent passing when Tomas Fleischmann sent Weiss into the Sens zone with a clever pass. Weiss then sent a pass cross-ice to Dmitry Kulikov at the left circle, who then found Fleischmann alone in the slot and the former Capital fired it on goal and the shot hit Weiss as he was gliding through the slot and found its way into the net.

Ottawa evened it again at 14:14 of the second period when Erik Condra poked the puck out to the neutral zone, raced up the right wing and fed DeCosta, who came flying out of the penalty box unchecked and was wide open in front to tap it home to make it 2-2.

Ottawa took a 3-2 lead with just 2:07 to go in the final period when Greening found a loose puck in the high slot and wristed it glove side on Markstrom.

Florida's tying goal came as a result of some good puck movement in the offensive zone with Markstrom on the bench for the extra attacker. Kulikov picked up the puck at the left point, sent a pass to Weiss at the right circle, who then found Versteeg all alone at the other circle and the speedy winger one-timed it in behind Anderson.

"It was pretty dramatic, that's for sure," Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen said. "When you end up on the wrong side of these games it certainly has a lot of sting. There are some lessons to be learned."

Game Notes

The Panthers are 3-1-0 when they notch the game's first goal...Ottawa went 0- for-2 with the power play, while the Panthers were 0-for-4 with the man advantage...Florida had its two-game winning streak snapped...The Panthers will travel to Buffalo to tangle with the Sabres on Saturday, while Ottawa will visit the New York Rangers, also on Saturday.