Point has goal, three assists to help Lightning get past Senators

TAMPA -- Brayden Point had a goal and three assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for the Lightning (35-11-6), who won their fifth straight game despite falling behind by two early in the first period.
"We just played an event," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said, referring to the 3-2 win against the Nashville Predators in the 2022 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on Saturday. "To come back regardless of who we're playing, there was that potential [of a slow start]. Give Ottawa credit, they came out hard, but I liked the response."
Tyler Ennis and Zach Sanford scored for the Senators (19-28-5), who have lost four of their past five. Matt Murray made 17 saves.
"Anytime you come into this building, especially right now ... they might be playing the best hockey in the NHL," Ottawa forward Colin White said. "We got off to a hot start but just let down a little bit, and that's what happens when you play a good team."

Ennis gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 1:11 when he redirected a shot from Thomas Chabot in the left face-off circle.
Sanford extended the lead to 2-0 at 3:43 on a sharp-angled wrist shot from the right circle that went in off the left post.
"We came out the way we had to, we just made some bad puck decisions that ended up in the back of our net," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "We wanted to get out of the first period, we did. If we were a little better with the puck we probably come out of it with the lead."
Kucherov cut it to 2-1 at 7:15 when he drove to the net and scored on the backhand after forcing a turnover along the left boards.
"'Vasy' made some huge saves to kind of jump-start our group and then 'Kuch' makes a beautiful move to get one for us," Point said. "And we just kept going from there."

Point tied it 2-2 at 14:49 with a wrist shot from the left circle after taking a drop pass from Ondrej Palat on the rush.
Steven Stamkos put the Lightning ahead 3-2 on the power play at 5:18 of the second period with a one-timer from the left circle. Corey Perry pushed the lead to 4-2 at 16:08 when he stuffed the puck in at the right post.
"Our big guys stepped up and made some plays and got us back in the game," Perry said. "… We don't like starting like that, it's not ideal, but you have to deal with it the right way, and I think we did."

Mikhail Sergachev made it 5-2 at 9:02 of the third period with a wrist shot from the high slot.
"I thought we kind of let off the gas a little bit and let them jump back into the game," Sanford said. "Whatever it was -- guys are sick, tired -- whatever. We kind of took a step back, and they took over there the second half of the first. You give them that momentum and they are going to keep it going."
NOTES: Point has scored 11 points (five goals, six assists) during a seven-game point streak. ... Stamkos scored for a fifth straight game (six goals), passing Jean Beliveau and Ray Bourque for 30th on the NHL power-play goals list with 174. ... Kucherov had his fourth straight multipoint game (eight points); he's had a goal and an assist in each. ... Sergachev ended a 40-game goal drought; he last scored Oct. 26 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. ... The Lightning are 6-0-1 in their past seven at home. … Ennis' goal was his first in 14 games. ... White had an assist and a game-high five shots on goal. He has scored two points (one goal, one assist) in the past two games after missing the first 50 with a shoulder injury.