Tampa Bay fall to Ottawa 4-2 at home

The (30-22-5) Tampa Bay Lightning fall to the (23-27-2) Ottawa Senators 4-2 at home.

SENS WWWWIIIINNNNN‼️ #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/DWXTF8xzEz

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) February 20, 2024

Senators Dominate Early

The Tampa Bay Lightning started hot and out shot the Senators 7-2 in first five minutes. Ottawa began to heat up and Tim Stützle scored a beautiful solo goal to open up the scoring with 9:15 left in the first period. He dribbled past Emil Lilleberg, put Darren Raddysh on the floor and smashed it home.

https://twitter.com/Senators/status/1759738612051231217

The Senators made it 2-0 after scoring off of a two vs one. Nikita Kucherov took a shot that was blocked by Mathieu Joseph. The puck fell to Stützle who played it up to Claude Giroux. The Canadian snuck the puck under Erik Černák‘s stick as he sent it to Joseph who scored with 6:25 left in the first period.

The Senators would make it 3-0 in the last five minutes of the second period. Tampa went up the ice to start an attack during the four on four. Joseph stole the puck after some poor dribbling by Steven Stamkos and had the whole right side of the rink to himself. He sprinted up the ice and slotted the puck right next to the keeper and bagged himself a brace.

QUICK. MATHS. 😤#GoSensGo https://t.co/rlBgpUf7m3 pic.twitter.com/DbNq8FFwUq

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) February 20, 2024

Goals Galore

Mitchell Chaffee opened up the scoring for the Lightning with 3:05 left in the second period. Tampa had three shots this possession, the first of which was from Lilleberg. The Norwegian hit it from far out forcing a save from Anton Forsberg. Nicholas Paul tried his luck, but it went high.

Third times a charm as the puck fell right to Chaffee after an unlucky mis control by Jakob Chychrun. The American snuck it in to make it 3-1.

Early in the third period, the Lightning pushed men forward leading to get a goal. This led to the Senators having a two vs one opportunity. Brady Tkachuk had the puck with Vladimir Tarasenko to his left. He couldn’t pass it to the Russian without losing possession, so he took a shot at Andrei Vasilevskiy‘s far pad. It rebounded straight into Tarasenko’s path and he tapped it in.

The Tkaptain knew juuuust where to place this to get it to Senko's stick on the rebound 🎯 #GoSensGo https://t.co/R4bKY4z0ea pic.twitter.com/fuaIv425ng

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) February 20, 2024

With 15:34 left in the final period, the Lightning passed the puck up the ice and pressed the Senators. Brandon Hagel won it in a good position and crossed it to Brayden Point. The center forced Anton Forsberg to dive on the ground, but Point chipped it over him to make it 4-2.

Hags ➡️ Pointer ➡️ GOAL pic.twitter.com/2XxPvtVtLX

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 20, 2024

Tampa had multiple opportunities to score the rest of the third period, including a two vs one, but Forsberg came up big.

Up Next for Tampa Bay

The Lightning are back home on Thursday and play the (24-21-8) Capitals. Tampa beat Washington earlier this season in a shootout 2-1.

Ottawa are now 2-0 against Tampa. The Lightning will try to prevent the sweep on April 11, at home.