KANATA, Ontario _ Florida Panthers newly anointed coach Tom Rowe said earlier Saturday that one reason for the coaching change was that he didn't feel some players, "were bringing it every night."
Rowe might've felt the same way for the first seven minutes of the opening period as the Ottawa Senators scored two unobstructed, doorstop goals in a 19-second span to hand the Panthers a 2-0 loss in a chippy affair in the Canadian Tire Center.
The Panthers fell to 1-1-1 since Gerard Gallant was fired last Sunday, and 1-2-1 on this season-long, six-game road trip that concludes with a back-to-back set against the Bruins and Flyers, two more conference opponents. Florida fell six points behind the second-place injury-wracked Senators in the tight Atlantic Division.
At 6:46, Sens center Ryan Dzingel centered the puck to two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson, who took two unimpeded swipes at the puck in the crease before his fifth goal got through the pads of Roberto Luongo.
Before the goal-scorer could be announced, Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki delivered a crunching hit on Panthers captain Derek MacKenzie at center ice. Rugged forward Shawn Thornton, making his first start under Rowe, challenged Borowiecki to a fight but while the two danced around, the Senators went tic-tac-toe before Derick Brassard's layup from the paint made it 2-0 at 7:05.
Luongo had given up just one goal in four of his previous five starts and was 6-1-1 in last eight appearances with a 1.57 goals-against-average. That included a 4-1 victory over these injury-depleted Senators here two weeks ago when he made a season-high 39 saves.
The Senators, sans starting goalie Craig Anderson, who's on another personal leave to be with his cancer-stricken wife, are also without top-six forwards Bobby Ryan (hand) and Clarke MacArthur, whose been out all season with another concussion but said Saturday he hoped to return in January.
The Panthers couldn't solve Anderson's replacement, Mike Condon, who sparkled in net with 24 saves for his first win against Florida in his fourth attempt and third career shutout.
The Panthers had one shot after the first 15 minutes and trailed 2-0 after one. Vincent Trocheck had a clean breakaway attempt smothered by the pads of Condon just 34 seconds into the second period. After four unanswered power plays by the Senators, the Panthers finally got a few favorable whistles and had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:23.
However, Condon stood tall under a bombardment of shots from Aleksander Barkov, Jaromir Jagr and defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who only missed a few shifts after a bouncing puck opened up a gash under his eye. So they still trailed 2-0 after two, despite outshooting Ottawa 13-7 in the middle frame.
The Panthers killed all seven of Ottawa's power plays, but went 0-for-4 on their own (with six shots) and are 0-for-10 in the last two games.
