The Florida Panthers tightened up defensively, for the most part, but could only dent the twine once in a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night at the BB&T Center.
With the win, Ottawa remained in second place in the Atlantic Division, just two points behind first place Montreal with two games in the hand.
Florida is now three points behind Toronto, which holds the second wild card, with each team having 21 games remaining.
The Senators opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal 6:28 into the action, thanks to wheels of Erik Karlsson.