Joseph, Forsberg lead Senators past Lightning 4-2
By Mark Didtler, The Associated Press on February 19, 2024.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Mathieu Joseph scored two goals, Anton Forsberg made 23 saves and the Ottawa Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Monday night. Ottawa, last in the Atlantic Division, handed the Lightning a second consecutive defeat. Tampa Bay was coming off a 9-2 home loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. Mitchell Chaffee and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who have a one-point lead over Detroit for the first of two Eastern Conference wild-card berths. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots. Ottawa also got goals from Tim Stützle and Vladimir Tarasenko. Forsberg made a terrific glove save on Steven Stamkos’ shot from the low slot midway through the second period. Tampa Bay did not have a power play. The Lightning have the NHL’s top-ranked power-play unit. Stützle opened the scoring 10:45 into the game and assisted on Joseph’s goal just 2:50 later. Stützle joined Martin Havlat as the only Ottawa players to have three 50-point seasons before age 23. Joseph, who played parts of four seasons with Tampa Bay, blocked NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov’s shot and then made it 2-0 by scoring on a 2-on-1. Claude Giroux set up the goal to give him a five-game point streak and 1,051 points, which is one from tying Denis Potvin for 76th place on the career list. Joseph, on a breakaway, and Chaffee traded goals 1:06 apart late in the second. Tarasenko put the Senators up 4-1 on a rebound goal at 4:01 of the third before Point responded 35 seconds later. Kucherov, playing in his 700th NHL game, was held without a point for just the 11th time in his 56 games this season. His 10-game point streak ended. Tampa Bay had 15 shots on goal through the second period. Five came in the first two minutes of the game. UP NEXT Senators: Play again Tuesday at Florida. Lightning: Host the Washington Capitals on Thursday. — AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl 18-17
