Linus Ullmark made several crucial saves in the third period to savor the victory in his first game in the uniform of the Ottawa Senators, who kicked off their season with a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
With Ottawa leading 2-1 in the third period, Ullmark made key saves against Anton Lundell, Mackie Samoskevich and Carter Verhaeghe.
Tim Stützle started his campaign in superb fashion by scoring a double for the Sens, who were also able to count on a goal from Shane Pinto.
A few hours after signing a new four-year pact that will bring him $33 million, Ullmark made 30 saves.
The Panthers (1-1-0) will be keeping an eye on the state of health of their captain Aleskander Barkov, who seemed greatly inconvenienced on the sequence leading to Stützle’s insurance goal, late in the last third.
Having lost his stick, Barkov tried to prevent his rival from scoring in an abandoned cage, but instead he fell and kicked heavily against the boards.
No. 16 Florida was escorted to the locker room with the help of the medical team.
After the match, head coach Paul Maurice simply indicated that Barkov would undergo more in-depth tests in the evening, and on Friday as well.
Gustav Forsling was the lone scorer for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who opened their season Tuesday by dominating the Boston Bruins.
The Sens will be the visitors to the Bell Center on Saturday, for their first match of the regular schedule against the Canadiens.
