Tampa, FL – Ryan Malone scored the game-tying goal early in the third period and then provided the go-ahead goal with just over seven minutes remaining, as the Tampa Bay Lightning handed the Ottawa Senators their first loss of the season with a 6-4 decision on Friday at Tampa Times Forum.
Steven Stamkos registered a goal and two assists, while Matt Carle, Victor Hedman and Tom Pyatt also lit the lamp for the Lightning, who have won two straight.
"We want to focus on one game at a time," Hedman said. "We have to do that especially with this short season."
Anders Lindback recorded 32 saves in the victory.
Kyle Turris tallied a goal and an assist, while Erik Condra, Jason Spezza, and Erik Karlsson each scored once for Ottawa, which had won four straight against the Lightning.
Ben Bishop was charged for five goals on 30 shots in a losing effort.
"We gave up six goals, that's something we certainly did not want to do," Ottawa coach Paul MacLean admitted. "They made it difficult for our goaltender and for the most part I thought they controlled the game and had the puck way more than we did."
Carle's power-play tally just 1:09 into the contest provided Tampa Bay with a 1-0 lead, but the Senators stormed back in the second, as they outshot the Lightning 16-5 in the frame and outscored them 4-2 to take a one-goal edge into the third.
But the final frame belonged to Malone and the Lightning. The 33-year-old winger tipped-in a Sami Salo point blast at the 3:39 mark to knot the game at 4-4 before notching the go-ahead goal at the 12:58 mark.
Off an offensive zone faceoff win, Hedman fired a shot from the left point that was heading wide of the net, but Vinny Lecavalier got a stick on it to send the puck sliding through the slot.
Malone recovered the rebound in the low right circle and deposited the puck in the back of the net to give Tampa Bay a 5-4 lead.
Lindback kept the Senators off the board from there before Pyatt's empty- netter at the 19:18 mark accounted for the final margin.
After Condra converted a breakaway with a wrister at the 4:11 mark of the second to tie the game at 1-1, the teams combined for five goals in under four minutes late in the second stanza.
Spezza's power-play goal at the 14:30 mark started the flurry and Karlsson followed 15 seconds later with a one-timer from the right point that deflected off Hedman's stick and sailed high over Lindback to provide Ottawa with a 3-1 lead.
Stamkos answered with a backhand tally just 15 seconds after, but a Turris one-timer off a nice feed from Daniel Alfredsson restored the Senators' two- goal lead at the 17:30 mark.
Hedman then made up for his own-goal when he ripped a one-timer from the high slot that whizzed past Bishop to bring Tampa Bay within 4-3 with 1:50 remaining in the second.
Game Notes
Salo, Martin St. Louis, and Cory Conacher each recorded two assists for the Lightning ... Alfredsson and Sergei Gonchar added two assists apiece for Ottawa ... Both teams finished 1-for-4 on the power play.
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