At a time when every standings point matters in a congested Atlantic Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday defeated one of the teams hovering near them in the playoff race for the second time in three days.
Tampa Bay beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1 on Thursday at AMALIE Arena, improving to 29-20-4 this season and earning at least one standings point for a fourth straight game.
The Lightning's win over the Senators came two days after a 4-3 win against the same divisional opponent on Tuesday. The latest win jumped the Lightning into the third divisional playoff space, taking the spot from Ottawa.
"It was kind of time to look in the mirror and rise to the occasion,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We had to see, what is our team? For two games here, they've proved they're made of a lot.”
All three periods started with a challenge for the Lightning. Tampa Bay took a penalty 2:02 into the game and found itself shorthanded 1:15 into the second period. With a 2-1 lead, the home team was again called for a penalty early in the third, this time 46 seconds into play.
The Lightning penalty kill unit erased all three power-play chances for Ottawa, allowing three total shots to the Ottawa power play.
"Special teams has got to be huge, and they've been great for us all year,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “We've been continuing to get more confidence there on the PK and understanding reads and just trying to be real detailed and execute on our clears and faceoffs, good gap, and it's been a good stretch for us.”
Tampa Bay took advantage of their own power-play looks, opening the scoring on a rebound chance for Jake Guentzel midway through the first period in the closing seconds of their first 5-on-4 opportunity.
Brayden Point’s initial shot from the high slot was stopped by Ottawa goalie Anton Forsberg, but Guentzel tapped in the rebound near the right goalpost for the 1-0 lead 9:23 into the game.
"I think it's easy to get up for these games. Playoff mentality against a team that we're fighting against for playoffs,” Guentzel said. “These are the games you want to play in.”
Ottawa tied the game on a netfront redirection by forward Michael Amadio 5:27 into the second period, but the Lightning regained their lead shortly after another power-play chance.
McDonagh collected the puck behind the goal line near the Lightning net, whisking a three-line pass to a waiting Brandon Hagel at the far blue line. Hagel accepted the pass, broke in alone and swept the puck through Forsberg’s five-hole for the 2-1 advantage with 9:46 left in the second period.
Point extended the Lightning lead to 3-1 in the third period, burying his shot from the right faceoff circle with 4:16 left in the game. Erik Cernak’s first goal of the season found the empty net on a rink-long clearing attempt in the game’s final minute, and Mitchell Chaffee added the final goal with 26 seconds remaining to seal a 5-1 victory.
Point led the Lightning with a goal and two assists, and Kucherov added a pair of assists.
Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 27 saves, while Forsberg ended with 26 for the Senators.
Tampa Bay’s divisional run continues this weekend when they take on the surging Detroit Red Wings (28-21-5 this season) on Saturday and then travel to Montreal to play the Canadiens (25-24-5), their final games before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
“We have to dig deep, and you can't look ahead,” Cooper said. “You want to play all your games at home, but I'm okay with going on the road right now and just get this team together, get focused. And you know what? Let's take our best shot and see what we can do here for two games.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Brayden Point, TBL (Goal, two assists)
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (27 saves, win)
- Nikita Kucherov, TBL (Two assists)
