Lightning 3, Senators 2
Steven Stamkos scored a power-play goal to snap a tie with 5:04 remaining as Tampa Bay handed visiting Ottawa its fifth consecutive loss.
Stamkos swept home a cross-ice pass from captain Vincent Lecavalier to snap a four-game goal drought and tie Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the league lead with 26. Pierre-Cedric Labrie scored his first career NHL goal and Lecavalier also tallied for the Lightning, who received 31 saves from former Senator Ben Bishop and moved within six points of the eighth-place New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference.
Captain Daniel Alfredsson and Guillaume Latendresse recorded goals and Craig Anderson made 21 saves for Ottawa, which dropped into a tie with the New York Islanders for sixth. The Senators, who hold the tiebreaker based on games played, have scored seven goals in their last five contests.
Bishop got a piece of Kyle Turris’ heavy shot from the right faceoff circle, but the puck fluttered behind him and Alfredsson batted it over the goal line 14:29 into the first period for a 1-0 lead. Labrie fought off Ottawa defenseman Marc Methot and knocked home a rebound as the Lightning drew even at 2:35 of the second.
Tampa Bay took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play to take a 2-1 lead when Lecavalier chipped a rebound over a fallen Anderson a little less than two minutes later. Latendresse swept in a loose puck at the right post 21 seconds into the third on the power play to forge a 2-2 tie.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tampa Bay RW Martin St. Louis registered two assists for the Lightning to go over the 900-point mark in his career. St. Louis has 901 in 970 games. …Turris has gone 10 games without a goal, but snapped a five-game streak without a point by notching a pair of assists. … Tampa Bay D Mark Barberio, a sixth-round pick in 2008, made his NHL debut and played 14:12.