Recap: Florida vs. Ottawa

Sunrise, FL (Sports Network) - Erik Karlsson scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period, as the Ottawa Senators secured a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday.

Chris Phillips registered a power-play goal and Jason Spezza added an empty- netter for the Senators, who improved to 3-0-0 for the first time since 2007-08.

Craig Anderson turned away 25 shots in the triumph and improved to 9-0-1 in 11 career starts against the Panthers.

Tomas Fleischmann scored the lone Florida goal, while Jose Theodore surrendered two goals on 36 shots for the Panthers, who have lost three straight, including a 4-0 setback at Ottawa on Jan. 21.

"We really have to bear down and give our goalie some support," Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen said. "They're creating a lot of chances against us.

After the teams exchanged power-play goals in the first period, the Senators took advantage of a Florida turnover midway through the second to register the go-ahead goal.

Karlsson intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and carried it down the left wing before ripping a wrister from the left circle that sailed high over the right shoulder of Theodore to give Ottawa a 2-1 lead at the 8:28 mark.

"I haven't seen too many people get from the blue line at a dead stop to the hash marks and shoot the puck in the net like that in a real long time," Senators head coach Paul MacLean said of the shot.

The Panthers put together a flurry in the third, but Anderson turned away all six shots he faced in the stanza and Spezza tallied an empty netter with just over a minute remaining to account for the final margin.

Florida struck first on the power play at the 8:24 mark of the first when Fleischmann rifled a shot from just inside that left circle that snuck past Anderson, but Ottawa answered just over three minutes later when Phillips one- timed a slapper past Theodore to knot the game at the 11:25 mark.