The Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers met for the fourth time this season, with Florida taking two of the previous three meetings.
With the Atlantic division as tight as it is, every divisional game is a battle for the playoffs. Coming into tonight, the Panthers sat four points back of the Senators with one more game played, although they were red hot having gone 8-3-0 in their last eleven games. A massive part of the surge has to do with the return of young studs Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov, who combined have a P/GP of 1.