As they did in Saturday’s game in Detroit, the Lightning hurt themselves with turnovers. It’s true that they committed fewer mistakes in this contest against the Senators, but two second-period d-zone turnovers led directly to Ottawa goals. Those tallies proved to be costly; they offset two Lightning goals in the second period and allowed the Sens to enter the final frame with the lead.
The Lightning endured a flat opening frame. They owned very little possession and, as a result, only posted three shots on net and registered just 13 shot attempts. On the other hand, the Senators fired 17 SOG in the first and had 31 shot attempts. One of those went in. After a Jakob Chychrun’s right-point shot hit Ridly Greig in the low slot, Greig made a nifty no-look cross-ice pass to Vladimir Tarasenko. From the left circle, Tarasenko snapped the puck inside the post.
The Lightning elevated their game in the second period. Despite getting outshot, 15-10, in the frame, they owned a majority of the possession time. Anthony Cirelli tied the game one minute into the period, when he completed an in-alone chance after a tic-tac-toe passing sequence on a three-on-two rush.
Later in the period, Tanner Jeannot won a race to the puck deep in the Ottawa end and rimmed a pass around the boards to Victor Hedman at the left circle. Hedman’s shot hit Mikey Eyssimont, who was screening goalie Joonas Korpisalo. The puck squibbed to Jeannot at the top of the crease and he roofed his shot into the top of the net at 13:00.
But after both Lightning goals, the Sens regained the lead. Following the Cirelli tally, the Sens made it a 2-1 game when the Lightning turned the puck over in the d-zone and Brady Tkachuk scored. Tkachuk’s first shot hit Darren Raddysh in the leg and the puck came directly back to Tkachuk. He quickly rifled a second shot past Matt Tomkins.
Then, Mathieu Joseph broke the 2-2 tie with a key goal in the final minute of the period. Again, the sequence began with the Lightning in control of the puck in their own end. But poor puck management resulted in a Tarasenko steal behind the Lightning net. He set up Joseph in the slot for a one-timer over Tomkins’ glove.
So the period ended with the Lightning in the same position as when it started: down by a goal.
In the final frame, the Lightning attempted to press the attack, but Korpisalo stopped all 11 third-period shots that he faced. The Sens added to their lead when Tkachuk executed a strong power move down the win — he cut to the net and slipped a backhander into the goal at 12:53. Tim Stutzle sealed the win with an empty-netter.
Certainly, it was a tough weekend for the Lightning. Too many costly turnovers led to too many goals allowed. They’ll look to deliver a cleaner performance when they wrap up the trip on Tuesday in Buffalo.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:
- Brady Tkachuk - Senators. Two goals and assist.
- Tanner Jeannot - Lightning. Goal and assist.
- Tim Stutzle - Senators. Goal and assist.
