TAMPA, Fla. _ It didn't take much to put some pep back in the Lightning players Saturday night after a demeaning loss in Boston. About two days and just over seven minutes, in fact.
February was a grueling month for Tampa Bay, playing 15 games in 28 days. They burned out at the end of the stint with its three-goal loss to the Bruins, but the team came back refreshed and ready on Saturday night as it took down the Senators with ease, 5-1.
The Lightning's defense really stepped things up against the Senators, providing for the team on both sides of the puck. Four out of five of Tampa Bay's goals came from its defensemen.
Victor Hedman opened up the scoring on the night, notching his ninth goal of the season. He took advantage of a rebound off Dan Girardi's shot from the blue line and took a top-shelf shot, just past Ottawa's Craig Anderson.
Less than two minutes later Ryan McDonagh got in on the action logging his seventh goal of the season.
Nikita Kucherov quickly traded off a pass to Erik Cernak. McDonagh slipped just inside the sweet spot as Cernak saw the gap and passed his linemate the puck.
McDonagh took the pass just inside the face-off circle and cradled it along the toe of his stick before taking a shot at the top-left corner, bringing up the Lightning 2-0 before the halfway point of the first period.
Things continued to improve for the Lightning, on the scoring side of things, as Cernak notched his third goal of the season in the first four minutes of the period and Kucherov logged his 106th point with a goal of his own toward the end of the second period. Mikhail Sergachev also got on the board notching his second goal in five games to open up the third period.
Steven Stamkos went scoreless on the night. Amalie sucked all the air out of the arena when he took a hit from Ottawa's Brian Gibbons and crawled over toward the boards. He kept his weight on his knees and moved his gloves over his face as the play continued. It took him about 10 seconds to get up on his own and make his way back over to the bench.
He didn't come out for the remainder of the period but made his way back to the lineup to start the third.
The Lightning came up empty on the power play Saturday night, going 0 for 2. On the other hand, the penalty kill came out strong once again going 3 for 3.
