Senators take it on the chin with ugly loss to Florida Panthers

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The Ottawa Senators got exactly what they deserved Thursday night.

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This performance was awful and embarrassing.

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The final buzzer on this season can’t come soon enough for the Senators and the club was booed at the end of this disgraceful 6-0 loss to the Florida Panthers in front of 17,653 Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

The Senators were schooled by one of the National Hockey League’s best teams and if they needed any reminder how much work they’ve got to do to get a ticket to the playoffs, then they need look no further this messy result.

Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky record the 55th shutout of his career and his fourth against the Senators with a 30-save effort. The Senators went 0-for-6 on the power play, but it’s difficult to say special teams were the difference because the club wasn’t good in any way, shape or form.

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This was the 21st time Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk has faced off against his brother Matthew Tkachuk’s Panthers. He had a three-point effort as his team took a 12-9 advantage in the head-to-head matchup.

By the time Matthew scored his 24th of the year at 3:54 of the third, that was just the icing on the cake.

Thanks to Sam Reinhart’s 53rd of the season, the Panthers took a 5-0 lead heading to the third period. The Senators have allowed five goals or more 23 times this season.

KORPISALO STEPS BACK

Only 24 minutes into the game, the Senators were down 4-0 and Joonas Korpisalo was a spectator from the bench.

Replaced by Anton Forsberg, Korpisalo was pulled by interim coach Jacques Martin after giving up for goals on 13 shots.

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He decided he’d seen enough after Sam Bennet’s 19th of the year gave the Panthers the four-goal advantage at 4:19 of the second. That came on a shot from the slot on the stick side.

It wasn’t nearly as bad as third goal by Anton Lundell.

Parked behind the net, he fired a shot from the corner that bounced off the Korpisalo’s back and into the cage. It has to be one of the worst goals given up in the league this season and it came at 2:35 of the second.

Korpisalo came into this game with six wins in his last eight games, but that goodwill can disappear quickly. It’s the 19th time this season that Korpisalo has surrendered four goals or more.

It didn’t help that the Senators weren’t able to take advantage of their power-play opportunities. They had four in the first period alone and came up empty with Bobrovsky making some big stops.

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THIS N’ THAT

Korpisalo made a big stop on Brandon Montour in alone late in the first … Parker Kelly caught a break in the first when the officials missed a high stick on Oliver Ekman-Larsson midway through the first. Kelly was forced to drop the gloves with Ryan Lomberg … Bobrovsky made a great stop on Tkachuk in alone early in the first …. The Senators hadn’t even registered a shot on Bobrovsky and it was already 2-0. First, Nick Cousins got Florida on the board on the second shot Korpisalo faced at 1:02. Then, just to make matters worse Dmitry Kulikov fired it home only 33 seconds later … That’s the 19th time this season the Senators have surrendered a goal on one of the first two shots … The last time the Panthers were in Ottawa was Nov. 27. The club skated to a 5-0 win over the Senators and when a brawl broke out late in the third the officials gave everybody on the ice game 10-minute misconducts. Both teams finished the game with short benches … Facing the Senators for the first time since being dealt to Florida on March 6, the club acknowledged winger Vladimir Tarasenko during a stoppage in play.

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THE FINAL BUZZER

The Senators made a couple of move. With winger Angus Crookshank out indefinitely with lower-body injury he suffered Tuesday in Minny, the club recalled Jiri Smejkal from its AHL affiliate in Belleville to suit up in this one. Centre Rourke Chartier, who missed 12 games with an upper body injury, skated in a regular jersey in the morning and was sent back to Belleville after the skate … Veteran defenceman Travis Hamonic has suited up for his last game of the season. He wasn’t on the ice and didn’t make the club’s two-game road trip. Martin said Hamonic hasn’t skated and isn’t close to returning with an undisclosed lower body injury … Team USA has approached forward Shane Pinto about playing at the IIHF world championships next month in Prague. He wants to go to get some more games in, but as a restricted free agent isn’t sure. He’d like to get a contract in place and his New York-based agent Lewis Gross is holding talks with Senators’ president of hockey operations and GM Steve Staios to try to get a long-term deal signed. Tkachuk and D Jake Sanderson are also top candidates to suit up for the USA.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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