Ottawa Senators at Florida Panthers
· National Hockey League
Matthew Tkachuk has goal and 3 assists, Panthers strike fast and top Senators 6-3
Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals and added an assist for Florida, while Seth Jones had three assists — including one on Gregor's history-making goal.
Gregor's goal was the fastest to open a game in Panthers history — two seconds ahead of Johan Garpenlov's goal at the 10-second mark of a game against Colorado in October 1996 — and the fastest to start a game in the NHL this season.
A.J. Greer and Mackie Samoskevich also scored for Florida, while Sam Bennett added two assists and Daniil Tarasov stopped 22 shots for the Panthers.
Drake Batherson, Jordan Spence and Michael Amadio scored for Ottawa, which has gone 0-2-1 in its last three games as it chases a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Linus Ullmark started and stopped 11 of 16 shots before getting chased after Florida took a 5-0 lead with 5:24 left in the first period.
James Reimer replaced Ullmark and stopped 12 of 13 shots.
Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and three assists in the game. It was the 25th time he's gone head-to-head in the NHL with his brother Brady Tkachuk, the Senators' captain; Matthew Tkachuk's teams have now won 15 of those meetings.
Linesman Brad Kovachik worked regular-season game No. 1,972 of his career — and it'll be the last. The veteran of three decades is retiring, ending a career that saw him work the Stanley Cup Final in five different years, as well as the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Players from both teams lined up to shake Kovachik's hand during a first-period stoppage in play.
Panthers: Host the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Regular Season SeriesFLA leads series 3-0
Scoring Summary
 |
Goal | 1st Period 0:08 | Noah Gregor Goal (3) Snap Shot, assists: Seth Jones (21), Tomas Nosek (2) |
|
Goal | 1st Period 1:06 | Mackie Samoskevich Goal (8) Snap Shot, assists: Seth Jones (22), Matthew Tkachuk (16) |
|
Goal | 1st Period 9:09 | Carter Verhaeghe Goal (22) Snap Shot, assists: Matthew Tkachuk (17), Seth Jones (23) |
|
Goal | 1st Period 14:02 | A.J. Greer Goal (14) Wrist Shot, assists: Eetu Luostarinen (18), Donovan Sebrango (4) |
|
Goal | 1st Period 14:36 | Carter Verhaeghe Goal (23) Snap Shot, assists: Sam Bennett (30), Matthew Tkachuk (18) |
 |
Goal | 2nd Period 1:40 | Drake Batherson Goal (30) Wrist Shot, assists: none |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 12:41 | Matthew Tkachuk Goal (13) Snap Shot, assists: Sam Bennett (31), Carter Verhaeghe (30) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 15:14 | Jordan Spence Goal (6) Wrist Shot, assists: Tim Stützle (44), Michael Amadio (19) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 4:29 | Michael Amadio Goal (13) Snap Shot, assists: Ridly Greig (18), Lassi Thomson (1) |
Statistics
 OTT |
 FLA |
|
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Blocked Shots | 14 |
| 17 | Hits | 18 |
| 4 | Takeaways | 1 |
| 26 | Shots | 29 |
| 0 | Power Play Goals | 2 |
| 5 | Power Play Opportunities | 3 |
| 0.0 | Power Play Percentage | 66.7 |
| 0 | Short Handed Goals | 0 |
| 0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
| 34 | Faceoffs Won | 28 |
| 54.8 | Faceoff Win Percent | 45.2 |
| 16 | Giveaways | 12 |
| 3 | Total Penalties | 5 |
| 6 | Penalty Minutes | 13 |
Florida Panthers Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Marchand, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 29 |
| Aleksander Barkov, C | Injured Reserve | Oct 29 |
| Jacob Markstrom, G | Injured Reserve | Oct 20 |
| Jonah Gadjovich, LW | Injured Reserve | Sep 17 |
Ottawa Senators Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Andre Burakovsky, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 31 |
| Warren Foegele, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 31 |
| Hayden Hodgson, RW | Suspension | Oct 30 |
| Linus Ullmark, G | Injured Reserve | Oct 22 |
| William Eklund, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 15 |
