In their final game before the Christmas break, the Ottawa Senators flew south to face off against the Florida Panthers. Bobby Ryan had to sit this one out with an aggravated broken finger, so Ryan Dzingel got the call up from Binghamton. And after sitting out the past two games, Jared Cowen moved back into the line up, as Cody Ceci is also dealing with an injury. Craig Anderson started in nets for Ottawa, and Roberto Luongo got the start for Florida.
Overall, the first period was rather uneventful.