Lightning at Senators
The Ottawa Senators have gained five of a possible six points since Christmas and look to continue their upswing when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit on Sunday. Bobby Ryan’s overtime goal gave the Senators a 3-2 victory at Boston on Saturday afternoon to begin a stretch of five games in eight days – four of them on the road – as they try to climb into the playoff chase. Tampa Bay had won four straight contests before a 6-3 loss at Pittsburgh on Friday in the second of a four-game trip.
Ottawa is 5-3-2 since Dave Cameron took over as coach from Paul MacLean and has allowed two goals or fewer in five of the last seven games while going 4-2-1. Ryan posted four goals in the last two games and has collected 13 points in 12 contests to tie captain Erik Karlsson for the team lead with 26. Center Tyler Johnson has a team-high 41 points for the Lightning along with a league-best plus-26 rating.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TVA, CITY (Ottawa), Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (24-12-4): Coach Jon Cooper continues to shuffle three of his lines while the trio of Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat remains intact and productive. Kucherov has 14 points in 11 games and Palat collected 10 in his last five contests for the young line that was put together in late October. Jason Garrison returned to the lineup against Pittsburgh, but fellow defenseman Radko Gudas did not practice Saturday and will likely miss his third straight with a lower-body injury.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (16-14-7): Mike Hoffman recorded four goals in the last six games, including one on Saturday, and leads the team with 12 overall after scoring three in 25 contests last season. Karlsson, a former Norris Trophy winner, has not registered a goal in the last 10 games while the power play he quarterbacks is 0-for-18 during a rough five-game stretch. Craig Anderson has allowed just 11 goals in his last six games (4-1-1), but played Saturday and could give way to Robin Lehner.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay G Ben Bishop, who was acquired from the Senators near the end of the 2012-13 season, is 5-0-2 with a .925 save percentage against his former team.
2. Ottawa RW Alex Chiasson, acquired in a deal for Jason Spezza in the offseason, has gone seven games without a point.
3. The Lightning has gained at least a point in seven of the last eight games against the Senators (5-1-2).