The Tampa Bay Lightning wrapped up a brief, two-game homestand by earning one point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators Thursday night at AMALIE Arena.
Ottawa grabbed the 1-0 lead at the 8:45 mark of the first period when Brady Tkachuk scored the game-opening goal, his 35th tally of the season.
Skating into the Tampa Bay zone on a 2-on-1, Tkachuk declined up the opportunity to pass and fired a shot on goal that beat Matt Tomkins for the first goal of the contest.
Exactly one minute later, the Lightning responded with another dazzling play from Nikita Kucherov, who put a beautiful pass right on the tape of Conor Sheary before the first-year Bolt netted his fourth goal of the season to tie the game at one.
Taking a pass from Brayden Point in the offensive zone, Kucherov skated laterally towards the top of the right circle before spinning and wiring the puck to Sheary, who beat Anton Forsberg with a backhand to push his season point total to 14 on Kucherov’s 97th helper of the year.
As that line continued to heat up and generate pressure, Point gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead when he lit the lamp for the 45th time this season just 3:11 after the Sheary goal. Working hard in the corner, Kucherov and Sheary forced an Ottawa turnover before Sheary was able to get a stick on the puck and move it to Kucherov.
Quickly looking up, Kucherov sent a pass to the slot for Point, who made a shifty move to the backhand and beat Forsberg with Kucherov collecting his 98th assist and 141st point of the campaign. Sheary was credited with the secondary helper, his 11th assist of the season.
Following a scoreless second period, Drake Batherson evened the score at 2-2 with 17:49 remaining in regulation. Taking a pass from Tkachuk, Batherson made a move to the forehand that was stopped by Tomkins, but the Senators forward was able to jam the rebound over the goal line for his 28th goal of the season.
Batherson’s goal would be the final tally of regulation and, after neither team was able to score during overtime, the game would eventually go to a shootout.
After Victor Hedman was stopped on the first shot of the shootout, Tkachuk made a move to the backhand to put Ottawa up 1-0. Forsberg was able to stop Point the following round before Tomkins denied Claude Giroux to keep the Lightning alive. With the game on the stick of Steven Stamkos, the Tampa Bay captain fired a nearly perfect shot that rang off the crossbar and capped off the 3-2 win for the Senators.
Tyler Motte left the game with an injury after blocking a shot and was unable to return.
Bolts by the Numbers
- Nikita Kucherov extended his point streak to eight games (2-16—18) with two assists, his franchise record 40th multi-point game of the season. Kucherov’s 141 points this season (43-98—141) are the second-most recorded in a single season by a player born outside North America (most: Jaromir Jagr, 62-87—149). Kucherov has logged 60 primary assists this season, making him just the fourth player this century to record 60 primary helpers in a single campaign.
- Brayden Point scored his 45th goal of the season and added one assist to push his season point total to 88 (45-43—88). Point has now posted 23 multi-point efforts this season and has scored 13 goals over his last 15 games (13-10—23).
- Conor Sheary recorded his third multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist, pushing his season point total to 15 (4-11—15).
- Tyler Motte and Darren Raddysh both reached milestones with Motte skating in his 400th career game and Raddysh playing in the 100th contest of his career.
Bolts Quotes
- Jon Cooper: “Listen, we gave up two goals. We had our chances to score. We didn’t. A lot of good things came out of it.”
- Conor Sheary on Nikita Kucherov: “I feel like I’ve been watching that all year long. It’s nice to be on the receiving end of one of those and contribute, but all over the ice, he just makes those passes. He’s got that many points for a reason.”
- Cooper on the status of Tyler Motte: “You're trying to get through these games healthy and you see guys go down. It was a good thing that Cerny got to come back but Motte couldn't. We'll wait and see.”
- Cooper on if Motte didn’t return due to precautionary reasons or concern: “I would say a little both.”
Krenner’s Three Stars
1. Nikita Kucherov
2. Anton Forsberg
3. Conor Sheary
Lightning Look Ahead
- Saturday, April 13 at Washington Capitals, 5:30 p.m. ET, Capital One Arena
- Monday, April 15 vs. Buffalo Sabres, 7 p.m. ET, AMALIE Arena
- Wednesday, April 17 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET, AMALIE Arena
