Fabian Zetterlund scored a pair of goals and had Ottawa Senators fans dreaming of the playoffs with a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers Thursday night.
The victory keeps the Senators in the second and final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, two points back of the Boston Bruins, who hold the first.
With their third straight win, the Senators wrap up their five-game homestand with a 4-1-0 record, with the lone loss coming against Minnesota.
Ottawa added reinforcement to its blueline with Thomas Chabot returning to Ottawa’s lineup exactly two weeks after having surgery for a broken arm.
Chabot was initially expected to miss four to eight weeks.
Ottawa took a 3-0 lead 3:03 into the third period. Artem Zub grabbed a Jake Sanderson rebound and snapped a shot to the far side for his fifth of the season to beat Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 25 shots.
The Panthers finally solved Linus Ullmark, who made 21 saves, at 14:17 of the third.
A.J. Greer found Jesper Boqvist at the top of the slot and squeezed a shot under Ullmark’s right arm.
Claude Giroux added an empty-net goal with 3:17 remaining to put any hope of a comeback out of reach. Nineteen seconds later, Zetterlund scored his second of the game.
Both teams generated a few good chances in the second but both Ullmark and Bobrovsky were solid.
Bobrovsky made a huge glove save on a Tim Stützle breakaway early in the period, while Ullmark had Gustav Forsling shaking his head after he foiled his attempt late in the period.
Standing in front, Drake Batherson redirected a Sanderson shot on the power play for his 32nd of the season to open the scoring 6:49 into the first period.
With three minutes left in the period, Zetterlund took a Lars Elllers pass and wristed it over Bobrovsky’s shoulder.
With a depleted blueline, Florida recalled defencemen Marek Alscher and Ludvig Jansson from their American Hockey League affiliate. The two made their NHL debut Thursday.
Ottawa’s three remaining games are at the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon, at the New Jersey Devils Sunday night and at home against Toronto on Wednesday night.
The Sens would clinch a playoff spot on Saturday with a win and Detroit loss. They would also make the playoffs buy winning both weekend games.
Their possible first-round opponents are Buffalo, Carolina, Montreal or Tampa Bay.
