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Tampa Bay Lightning battle back to defeat Ottawa Senators in Shootout

By Tasha St. Pierre |
(Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Tampa Bay Lightning battled back on the third period to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in a shootout.

The Tampa Bay Lightning hit a little bit of a snag on Tuesday night when they fell 4-3 to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in their first-ever meeting at the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas. The loss in Vegas meant the Lightning had a lot of work ahead of them when they returned home to the Amalie Arena on Thursday night.

The Lightning, who were looking to right the ship and get back on the right course, were set to do battle with the struggling Ottawa Senators. Unlike the Lightning, who sit comfortably at the top of the NHL Standings, the Ottawa Senators are struggling to dig themselves out of the second-to-last place in the league.

Unfortunately, having a struggling opponent does not equal an easy victory for the Lightning. This is especially true when the team plays to their opponent and not their own abilities. In fact, the Bolts had anything but an easy time when they met the Senators in the center of the ice last night.

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In fact, things got off to what could arguably be considered one of the worst starts the team has seen in quite some time. The worst part is, this was completely unavoidable if there had been better on-ice communication between the defensive players on the ice.

The Lightning were fighting for possession in the defensive zone. Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy had just made a stop against Senators forward Bobby Ryan when the unthinkable happened. Lightning defenseman Dan Girardi found himself to the side of the net when he attempted to clear the puck.

Unfortunately, his puck ricocheted off the shin/knee of defenseman Braydon Coburn and went right past Vasilevskiy and into the back of the net to give the Senators the first goal of the game. Needless to say, this goal almost played a pivotal role in the outcome of the game.

A number of ill-timed turnovers and the seemingly lackadaisical and sloppy play led to the Lightning heading down the tunnel for the first intermission trailing the Senators 1-0. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, but when you score on your own goaltender, that one stings a little.

It wouldn’t be until the middle of the second period when the tides would turn for the Lightning. Surprisingly enough, it would be the rarest of circumstances which would get the Lightning back in the game.

The Bolts found themselves with an opportunity to get a little extra offensive pressure on the ice. A delayed penalty was in play against the Senators. This allowed Vasilevskiy to quickly skate off the ice and get an extra attacker on for the Bolts. Quickly, the Lightning sped into action and got the puck into the offensive zone.

The Lightning’s leading goal-scorer, Nikita Kucherov, fired off a shot from the top of the circle. Not only did the shot ricochet off Tyler Johnson, but the puck also deflected off Lightning forward Alex Killorn before beating Senators netminder Craig Anderson and flying into the back of the net.

Regrettably, it would only be a matter of minutes before the Senators would tie things up once again with a goal from defenseman Cody Ceci. The Senators were essentially allowed to walk into the zone with the puck. Sens forward Derick Brassard sped towards the net before passing the puck to Ceci who was right place, right time in order to beat Vasilevskiy.

Of course, after the chirpiness which has already come into play in the game, the Lightning weren’t about to take this lying down. Just over a minute later, the Lightning would tie things up with a goal from Yanni Gourde. The funny thing about this goal is it was scored just moments after Gourde made his way out of the penalty box, alongside Sens forward Ryan Dzingel, for Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

When these two teams took the ice for the third period, the Sens wasted no time in capitalizing on the opportunity the Lightning were so gracious to gift wrap for them. Braydon Coburn found himself with a one-way ticket to the sin bin for Slashing against Ryan Dzingel. This opened the door for Derick Brassard to capitalize on the man advantage and re-take the lead for the Senators.

Thankfully, the Lightning was determined to bring home a victory in front of their hometown fans. The game-tying goal was one of the simplest, yet most beautiful plays, we’ve ever seen.

Nikita Kucherov brings the puck to the net; however, not having a shot, he decided to pass the puck in front of the net to Victor Hedman. Hedman is absolutely robbed by Anderson on the shot, but Anderson doesn’t realize he left himself wide open on the glove side where Vladislav Namestnikov was waiting for his opportunity to strike; and strike he did.

For the record, this is one of our favorite goal cellys ever.


Another agonizing nine minutes would roll off the clock before the final buzzer sounded and this encounter would be headed to overtime. We can’t speak for everyone, but for those of us here at Bolts By The Bay, 3-on-3 overtime is the second most stressful occasions of the season.

There were a lot of close calls for both teams in the overtime period, but a victory would not be so easy to come by for either team. When the buzzer sounded, this baby would be headed to a shootout. The shootout is what we consider to be the most stressful moments of the season.

Vasilevskiy would make the save on both Tom Pyatt and Matt Duchene while Anderson made the save on Nikita Kucherov. Well…we should say, Kucherov’ stick made the save on Kucherov, but that’s neither here nor there.

The good news is, both Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos (respectively) would beat Anderson and give the Lightning a 4-3 shootout victory over the Senators. This wasn’t exactly the easy win Lightning fans believed the Bolts would get, but points are points no matter which form they come in.

The Lightning has a lot of work ahead of them if they want to remain successful. One of the biggest things the Lightning needs to work on before their next game is their on-ice communication and their Penalty Kill. Normally, the PK has been one of the most reliable parts of the Lightning’s game, but this has definitely changed over the stretch of the last couple of games.

The Lightning has one more challenge in front of them before the Christmas break. On Saturday night, the Lightning will take on Minnesota Wild in the first of two meetings this season. Minnesota is not quite at the Lightning’s level this season when it comes to the standings, but they are definitely not the Senators.

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If the Lightning wants to bring home another two points and create some breathing room between them and the Los Angeles Kings at the top of the NHL mountain, the Bolts are going to have to get back to basics and play the game the way they know how.

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