Michalek has 3 goals as Ottawa beats Tampa Bay

Milan Michalek scored three third-period goals, helping the Ottawa Senators withstand a Tampa Bay comeback attempt and beat the Lightning 7-3 on Tuesday night.

Ottawa, which took a three-goal lead early on, went up 5-3 when Michalek scored a power-play goal at 12:12 of third. The left wing added two empty-goals, including a short-handed effort with 7 seconds left to give him 32 goals this season.

Tampa Bay got within 4-3 when Steven Stamkos scored his league-leading 48th goal of the season during a power play at 5:41 of the third. The center has five goals and three assists during a five-game point streak.

Sergei Gonchar, Colin Greening, Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson had the other Ottawa goals. Michalek also had an assist, setting up Greening's goal with a nifty pass from behind the net.

Ryan Shannon and Tim Wallace also scored for the Lightning. Teddy Purcell assisted on Stamkos' goal and has 14 assists and 20 points during a career-high 10-game point streak.

Tampa Bay goalie Mathieu Garon left four minutes into the game with an undisclosed lower body injury after making a save and was replaced by Dwayne Roloson. Garon, who had gone 12-3-2 in his previous 17 starts, appeared to get hurt when he kicked out his leg on the play.

Greening and Turris scored 53 seconds apart late in the first as Ottawa took a 3-0 lead. Greening scored from the low slot, while Turris' shot went off Tampa Bay defenseman Brett Clark.

Gonchar stopped a personal 43-game goal drought, dating back to Nov. 12 against Toronto, to put Senators up 1-0 midway through the first.

The Lightning got within 3-2 in the opening 7:12 of the second when Shannon and Wallace scored on 6-foot-7 Ben Bishop, who was making his Senators debut. Bishop was acquired from St. Louis for a 2013 second-round draft pick on Feb. 26.

Karlsson made it 4-2 on a power-play goal at 11:58 of the second. The defenseman has 16 goals and 67 points this season.

Ottawa is without goalie Craig Anderson, who is sidelined by a hand injury. He won all three of the Senators' previous games this season with the Lightning, allowing just three goals overall.

Notes: The NHL fined Karlsson $2,500 for slashing Florida's Sean Bergenheim during a game on Sunday. ... Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman was in the lineup after missing four games due to an upper body injury. ... In 10 games against Tampa Bay, Anderson is 6-1-2 with three shutouts and an 1.24 goals-against-average. ... Lightning D Marc-Andre Bergeron is scheduled to have back surgery on Wednesday. ... Shannon's goal was his first in 19 games.