Marchessault, Matheson lead Panthers past Senators 6-5

SUNRISE, Fla. — Jonathan Marchessault came through with a huge goal for the second consecutive game.

In his team’s highest-scoring contest of the season, Marchessault delivered late in the third period to lift the Florida Panthers over the Ottawa Senators 6-5 on Tuesday night.

With the score tied at 4, goalie Mike Condon tried to clear the puck from behind the net but lost control of it. Marchessault grabbed the loose puck and poked it into the open net with 6:03 left to put the Panthers ahead 5-4.

“It just rolled right off his stick,” Marchessault said. “It came to me. He had his stick on it, but I was just able to squeak it by.”

Condon got caught out of position when he fumbled the puck and it drifted out in front.

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“I just tried to make a quick play and beat the forechecker,” Condon said. “It came off my blade wrong or I didn’t have a strong enough forehand. It was a tough way to end that one.”

Marchessault scored the overtime winner in last Thursday’s 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay.

“He just keeps scoring big, big goals for us,” Panthers interim coach Tom Rowe said. “He’s fearless out there and he’s constantly pressuring guys in the offensive zone and taking advantage of it.”

Jason Demers added an empty-net goal with 34.5 seconds remaining to make it 6-4. Derick Brassard scored for Ottawa with 11 seconds to play.

Michael Matheson scored twice for the Panthers. Colton Sceviour and Mark Pysyk each had a goal, and Roberto Luongo stopped 36 shots. Michael Sgarbossa added two assists.

Ryan Dzingel scored two goals for Ottawa, while Erik Karlsson and Chris Wideman each had one. Condon made 28 saves.

“When you look at the game, I think it was a typical after-the-break pond hockey game,” Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said. “Fluky goals happen and we just have to move on.”

The 11 combined goals were the most in a Panthers game this season. Florida, which won its third straight at home, set a season best with six.

“We can score goals, that’s for sure,” Rowe said. “Defensively, we weren’t great, but we did a lot of good offensively and that’s what we’re going to take home.”

Florida tied the score at 4 on Matheson’s second goal, a long slap shot from the point at 9:53 of the second. Matheson posted the first two-goal game of his NHL career.

Ottawa stretched its lead to 4-2 when Karlsson grabbed a rebound near the blue line and fired it past Luongo at 2:19 of the second.

The Panthers quickly closed to 4-3 after Sceviour poked in the puck from the left side of the crease 18 seconds later. The goal was the first for Sceviour in 39 games.

Luongo took a shot off his mask midway through the second period but stayed in the game.

The Senators took a 3-2 lead when Wideman fired a slap shot from high in the right circle that hit the top of the net with 30.6 seconds left in the first.

Ottawa tied it at 2 on Dzingel’s second goal when he took a rebound off the end boards and tucked it into the net with 11:06 to go in the first.

“It’s good to produce but at the same time, I’m not satisfied. I think I could have had a couple more,” Dzingel said.

The Senators tied the score 1-all on the first goal by Dzingel at 4:59. The Panthers regained the lead 23 seconds later after Pysyk redirected a pass from in front.

Florida grabbed a 1-0 lead on Matheson’s first goal at 2:24.

NOTES: Panthers backup goalie James Reimer was scheduled to start, but his wife, April, gave birth to their daughter, Nevaeh Adelyn May Reimer, earlier in the day. … Panthers C Vincent Trocheck had four points Sunday in his first All-Star Game. … The Panthers waived D Dylan McIlrath and C Paul Thompson. … Senators C Zack Smith has a career-high 13 assists after notching one on Ottawa’s fourth goal.

UP NEXT

Senators: Visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

Panthers: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

Paul Gereffi, The Associated Press