As the Ottawa Senators headed to Tampa for a clash with the Tampa Bay Lightning, confidence was riding high. The Senators earned a 5-2 road win against the Nashville Predators to extend their winning streak to five games the night before.
The Senators had not played the Lightning since their 5-4 win on Oct. 19 in Ottawa. In the second meeting in Tampa, the game would be determined by one goal again, but the result was different.
The Lightning defeated the Senators 4-3 at Amalie Arena to end the Senators' five-game winning streak and drop them to 29-21-4 on the season.
Linus Ullmark made his return in between the pipes after missing the Senators' past 19 games. In the loss, Ullmark made 34 saves, but the Senators' defense was unable to keep up with the Lightning's quickness and talented offense. The Lightning applied pressure on the Senators throughout the game.
After the game was tied at two at the start of the third period, Brandon Hagel scored under two minutes into the third period. Ryan McDonagh scored an empty-net goal to make it 4-2, then Drake Batherson scored with 1:20 to make it a one goal game, but it was too little too late.
Michael Amadio scored his first powerplay goal of the season to now have goals in two of the last three games. Thomas Chabot recorded two assists; Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle each recorded one assist to extend their point streak to six games.
The Senators suffered a big loss in the game when Shane Pinto was hurt in the first period. Pinto played just 2:57 and didn't return to the game. First Josh Norris on Monday with going to be out for a few weeks, now Pinto is hurt.
Tomorrow night will be the same time and location for both the Senators and Lightning. The two teams will meet for the second time in a three-day span.