Lightning 4, Senators 1
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning bounced back at home with a strong win against the Ottawa Senators, with right winger Nikita Kucherov scoring twice and goalie Ben Bishop stopping the first 24 shots he faced in a 4-1 win Thursday night at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning (14-12-3) got a power-play goal from Kucherov at 19:52 of the opening period, then gave themselves a cushion in the first minute of the third when center Valtteri Filppula scored on a rebound for the two-goal lead. Kucherov added another goal with 11:27 remaining, getting a turnover deep in the Senators zone, then poking in a goal off his own rebound against Ottawa (15-9-5).
Lightning right winger J.T. Brown added an empty-net goal with 13.6 seconds left, his third goal of the season.
Bishop took a shutout deep into the third period, but defenseman Cody Ceci scored his third goal of the season with 7:54 left, with assists to forwards Bobby Ryan and Mark Stone.
Tampa Bay had given up 14 goals in its previous five games, losing three of them, but their defense and Bishop played well against a Senators team coming off a 4-2 win Tuesday at Florida. Kucherov's two goals give him 10 for the season, one behind center Steven Stamkos for the team lead.
The Lightning were stifled for much of the opening period, held to one shot in the opening 15 minutes of play against six for the Senators. But a rare double penalty -- Senators players called for interference and hooking at the same time -- set up a 5-on-3 with 1:16 left in the first.
Tampa Bay converted the power play with just 7.5 seconds left in the period. Stamkos fired a centering pass to Kucherov, who fired a shot to the top right corner past Senators goalie Craig Anderson for a 1-0 lead.
NOTES: Just four days earlier, the two teams -- the Lightning and the Senators -- celebrated the 25th anniversary of the announcement that they would be expansion franchises in 1990. ... The Lightning played without RW Erik Condra, who missed a second game with a lower-body injury, with D Matthew Carle as a healthy scratch. ... Ottawa was again without G Andrew Hammond (concussion) as well as C Shane Prince, who was a healthy scratch. ... The Lightning open a two-game home stand before having three games on the road. The Washington Capitals are in Tampa on Saturday night. ... Ottawa finishes a four-game road trip on Saturday in Montreal before returning home to face the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.