TAMPA BAY, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning continued their homestand at Amalie Arena after a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Last night, Feb. 4, the team hosted their Atlantic Division rivals, the Ottawa Senators, a team ahead of them in the standings.
For the netminders, Andrei Vasilevskiy started for the Bolts and had himself a night again. Linus Ullmark, backing up for the Sens during yesterday’s matchup in Nashville against the Predators, started between the pipes.
Opening the first period, the Senators dialed in and took a lead over the home team. Michael Amadio opened the scoring on the power play 14 minutes in the first.
The Senators held a one-goal lead going into the middle frame.
However, that small lead did not last for long, as Luke Glendening tied it up after tipping in a blueline wrister from Emil Lilleberg. Then minutes after the tie goal, Nikita Kucherov, doing what he does best, broke the tie and gave his team a lead on the power play.
But less than two minutes after the tiebreaker, the Senators tied the score as Claude Giroux wristed one past Vasilevskiy at the center point.
The tied score continued for only a minute into the third period. Brandon Hagel, unassisted but with numbers in Ottawa’s zone, wristed the tiebreaker past Ullmark, propelling his team to hold the lead and solidify a needed win.
Vasilevskiy also made some incredible saves against the Sens’ offensive units during the final frame and was a big contributor in keeping the lead for his team.
When minutes dwindled before the final buzzer, the Bolts were sent to the penalty kill (PK), as Ottawa saw a grand opportunity to tie the game—pulling Ullmark for an extra attacker.
However, that did not go quite to plan. As Ryan McDonough left the box after the expired Lightning penalty, he turned on the jets, negated the icing, and buried the empty-net goal to make it 4–2.
And that goal was a good thing, as shortly after the faceoff from the goal, the Sens made it 4-3 when Drake Batherson scored unassisted. But the Senators did not capitalize on a tie score before the buzzer, as the Bolts made the clears necessary to maintain their short lead.
So, therefore, the Lightning took this game 4-3. Both teams will be back at it this Thursday, Feb. 6, at Amalie Arena.
Three Stars
- Vasilevskiy (25 saves)
- Hagel (unassisted goal)
- Ullmark (34 saves)
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