Game Recap: Senators Dominate Lightning, Win 7-2

Senators remain in playoff hunt, fend off sloppy Lightning team

In one of their stronger efforts of the season, the Ottawa Senators were able to walk away from tonight’s action with a commanding 7-2 victory over the recent two-time Stanley Cup Champions.

The Senators were able to feed off of the Lightning’s mistakes, capitalizing on a few odd-man rushes that would ultimately decide the outcome.

First Period

Alex DeBrincat would start the scoring for the home side, firing home a nice pass from Drake Batherson past veteran netminder Brian Elliott. Just a few minutes later DeBrincat (23) would extend the Senators’ lead, receiving a precise stretch pass from Erik Brannstrom, fending off Lightning defenceman Zack Bogosian before finding the net for his 2nd of the night.

At the end of 20 minutes, the Senators led 2-0 on the scoreboard and 13-10 on the shot chart, the ideal start against a strong Lightning squad.

Second Period

The Lightning would have a significant push to start the middle frame, dominating the shot clock for the majority of the period. Brayden Point would fire home his 45th of the year past Mads Søgaard to get the Lightning on the board:

Derick Brassard (12) would double the Senators’ lead on the powerplay just before the end of the middle frame, firing home a bullet shot by the unsuspecting Elliott.

Third Period

The Lightning would take to the powerplay early into the 3rd period, a Mikhail Sergachev (8) shot would find its way through Mads Søgaard, cutting the Senators’ lead in half.

However, shortly after, Erik Brannstrom (2) would take off on an end-to-end rush before firing a perfect shot over the blocker of Elliott, one of the nicer goals of the season for the Senators.

As the game continued to wind down, the Senators were able to take advantage of another powerplay, as a nice passing play winded up on the stick of Brady Tkachuk (31), putting the home team up 5-2.

The Senators would tack on two more goals (Tkachuk, Watson) before the final buzzer sounded.

The final shots would come to be 35-29 in favor of the Senators, a dominant performance from a team desperately trying to claw back into the playoff race.

Mads Søgaard would turn in another solid start, stopping 27 of the 29 shots directed his way, while Brian Elliott was beaten 6 times on 34 shots for the Lightning.