Sens can’t bottle Lightning
Malone strikes twice late in Tampa’s comeback win
TAMPA, Fla. • With Ben Bishop in net, the bubble burst for the Ottawa Senators Friday.
The Senators couldn’t hold on to a pair of two-goal leads, ultimately losing 6-4 to the Tampa Bay Lightning and putting an end to their earlyseason winning streak.
Ryan Malone finished off the Senators, scoring both the tying and winning goals in the third period. Tom Pyatt scored into an empty net.
The Senators arrived in Tampa with a perfect 3-0 record, a stretch in which No. 1 goaltender Craig Anderson had allowed only two goals.
Friday’s game was a different experience altogether.
It may have been a goaltending Clash of the Titans — the Senators’ 6-foot-7 Bishop against the Lightning’s 6-foot-6 Anders Lindback in a matchup of the tallest netminders in NHL history — but saves took a back seat to goals in a wild second period.
After Erik Condra scored on a breakaway to tie the game 1-1 early in the second period, the game appeared to be setting up for a tightchecking finish. Guess again.
First, Jason Spezza scored on a 4-on-3 power play. Then Erik Karlsson scored from the blueline on a shot that tipped off the stick of Tampa defenceman Victor Hedman. Only 30 seconds after Spezza’s goal, Steven Stamkos cashed in on a rebound in front of Bishop.
Kyle Turris restored the Senators’ two-goal lead — his fourth goal of the season — on a pretty passing play involving Kaspars Daugavins and Daniel Alfredsson, but that margin didn’t last long. Hedman completed the second period scoring, blasting a slapshot through a screen and past Bishop. When the buzzer finally sounded at the end of the second period, the Senators were ahead 4-3.
The Senators deserve credit for working their way back into a game where they started slowly. They fell behind only 1:09 into the game on a Lightning power play.
Bishop, playing his first game of the season, had a rough start. He couldn’t find the puck in the crease, allowing the Lightning to whack away until Matt Carle lifted the puck into the net.
It took a while for the Senators, who defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Thursday, to find their legs. They didn’t help themselves by taking four minor penalties in the first period. Yet they started the second period with some jump and began taking the play to the Lightning. Condra tied the game 1-1, sneaking behind the defence and taking a pass from Chris Neil.