Ottawa’s Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist, Brady Tkachuk scored twice, and the Senators pounded the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 7-2 on Thursday night.
In recording only its second victory in eight games (2-5-1), Ottawa (35-32-5, 75 points) also got a goal and a helper from Erik Brannstrom as the Senators tied their season-high for tallies and had 13 players with points.
Derick Brassard and Austin Watson netted a goal each for Ottawa, and Tim Stutzle had an assist in his 200th NHL game. Goaltender Mads Sogaard (6-5-2) stopped 27 shots in his first career start against the visitors.
For the Lightning (42-25-6, 90 points), Brayden Point extended his career-high goal mark to 45, and Nikita Kucherov recorded his 102nd point with two assists.
Mikhail Sergachev scored a power-play goal while Steven Stamkos added two helpers. Goalie Brian Elliott (11-6-2) allowed six goals on 34 shots as the club fell to 5-6-2 in March.
In the opening period, DeBrincat scored at 8:53 on an odd-man rush for a 1-0 lead. The second line left winger netted again on a spectacular play on a breakaway with defenseman Zach Bogosian draped on his back.
DeBrincat established his footing, spun and fired past Bogosian and Elliott for his 23rd tally, boosting the lead to two at 11:37.
At the start of the second, Tampa Bay made a stronger push and got on the board at 10:28 when Point grabbed a feed from Kucherov and whipped in his club’s first score.
Right winger Pat Maroon received a 10-minute misconduct penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct after tangling with DeBrincat, but it was fourth-liner Tanner Jeannot’s tripping penalty that hurt more.
On its second power play, Ottawa regained the two-goal edge when Claude Giroux fed Brassard in the left circle for his 12th tally at 18:04.
At 4:10 of the third, Sergachev muscled in a long shot on Tampa Bay’s third power play. The defenseman’s eighth tally cut the lead to 3-2.
But with the Lightning on a line change, Brannstrom went coast-to-coast and ripped home his second goal just 1:35 later.
Just like its previous power play, Ottawa potted another one and put the game away when Tkachuk tapped in one at 13:11 and added an empty-net tally 24 seconds later.
Watson’s eighth goal at 14:39 rounded out the scoring.
–Field Level Media
