Tampa Bay Lightning centre Ross Colton (79) and Ottawa Senators left wing Egor Sokolov (75) battle for the puck during first period NHL hockey action in Ottawa, on Saturday, April 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – The Ottawa Senators had six different goal scorers Saturday night to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-4.
Drake Batherson, Julien Gauthier, Patrick Brown, Alex DeBrincat, Egor Sokolov, Mark Kastelic and Claude Giroux, into an empty net, each scored for Ottawa (38-35-7). Cam Talbot made 19 saves.
Alex Killorn, Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman and Brayden Point scored for Tampa (45-29-6), who have now lost three straight. Brian Elliott stopped 33 shots. This was Tampa’s final road game of the regular season and second loss to Ottawa in two weeks.
The Senators, officially eliminated from playoff contention and missing six regulars, gave the playoff-bound Lightning all they could handle.
Leading 4-3 to start the third Sokolov intercepted an Erik Cernak pass and proceeded to bury the turnover for his first NHL goal, but the Lightning continued to fight back and made it a one-goal game when Point was left all alone in front and tipped Hedman’s shot past Talbot.
Kastelc made it 6-4 and Giroux added an empty-netter.
The Senators added to their lead early in the second as Brown fired a shot that hit the crossbar and dropped straight down, but he was there to jam it home to make it 3-1.
A couple of minor penalties to Erik Brannstrom and Claude Giroux gave the Lightning a two-man advantage for 72 seconds and they made the most of it.
Hagel scored on a Steven Stamkos rebound to cut the lead to one and just 28 seconds later Hedman made it 3-3, but the Senators regained the lead with a power-play goal of their own when DeBrincat scored short side with 16 seconds remaining in the period.
The Senators got off to a solid start with Batherson getting a piece of an Erik Brannstrom shot just 30 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead.
Tampa made it 1-1 with a power-play goal when Killorn tipped a Stamkos shot past Talbot, but the Senators regained the lead midway through the period when Gauthier ripped a wrist shot past Elliott glove side.
NOTES
Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said no player on the Senators’ injured list is expected to return this season. Julien Gauthier will return after missing six games. Tampa’s Mikhail Sergachev did not make the trip to Ottawa as his wife is expecting.
UP NEXT
The Senators host Carolina Monday for their final home game of the season, while Tampa will host Toronto on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 08, 2023.
