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Sens beat Panthers again on Butler's OT winner

Dec 23, 2011 - 4:58 AM Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - Bobby Butler scored the game-winning goal in overtime as the Ottawa Senators continued their dominance over the Florida Panthers with a 4-3 victory at Scotiabank Place.

Chris Neil, Erik Karlsson and Daniel Alfredsson also lit the lamp for the Senators, who defeated the Panthers for the eighth straight time.

Craig Anderson blocked 32 shots in the win.

Michal Repik, Shawn Matthias and Tomas Kopecky scored for Florida, which lost for the fifth time in seven games.

Scott Clemmensen allowed all four goals on 26 shots to take the loss.

Butler received a pass near the boards by the left circle and attempted to throw a pass to a streaking Karlsson on the right side of the net, but the pass deflected off the skate of Florida defenseman Brian Campbell on the way and slipped past Clemmensen for the game-deciding goal.

"We had a hard time getting the momentum in the game, but I think going into the third we were just sticking to it and never quit," said Karlsson.

Matthias was called for a tripping penalty 6:44 into the first period and the Senators took advantage just 13 seconds into the man advantage. After winning the offensive zone faceoff, Karlsson received a pass at the blue line and sent a wrister towards the net that was redirected by Neal for the lone goal of the first period.

The Panthers were issued a five-minute power play early in the second period after Nick Foligno was called for a major charging penalty, and they used the opportunity the tie the game at the 6:37 mark of the middle stanza.

The Senators were able to kill off the first three minutes of the penalty and even had two scoring chances in that span, but Florida tied the game at one with Kris Versteeg's shot from the right circle that was tipped in front by Tomas Fleischmann before deflecting off the skate of Repik and into the far side.

A three-goal swing in a little over two minutes put Ottawa ahead 3-2 near the midpoint of the third period.

Alfredsson struck first while on the power play. After a Clemmensen turnover behind his own net, Neil threw the puck out front and Alfredsson stuffed it home at the 7:38 mark.

Matthias knotted the game back up at the 9:05 mark with his own power-play goal when he ripped a shot from the right circle that went through a screen and into the far side, but 38 seconds later Karlsson ripped a slap shot from the point into the top-left corner for a 3-2 Ottawa lead.

Then with the goaltender pulled and less than two minutes left in regulation, Versteeg sent a pass from the side of the net to a streaking Kopecky, who waited for Anderson to make a move before sliding the puck through his legs to send the game into overtime.

"We didn't quit. We were down the whole game and we kept coming back," Campbell said. "We have to be happy with our effort but we are obviously upset about the outcome."

Game Notes

Foligno received a game misconduct on his charging penalty in the second period...Alfredsson's goal was the 399th of his career. He also had two assists in the game...Ottawa improved to 10-7-1 as the host this year, while Florida fell to 10-7-2 on the road.