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The Lightning controlled their own fate to seal a playoff spot Thursday night in Ottawa.
Win and they were in.
But the Senators, a team scrapping to solidify their own spot at the postseason table, had other plans on the back of goaltender Linus Ullmark.
The Lightning’s 2-1 loss to the Senators — the sixth in their past seven games at the Canadian Tire Centre dating to Dec. 11, 2021 — not only snapped the team’s four-game win streak, but combined with Montreal’s win over Boston, delayed Tampa Bay from claiming a postseason berth.
The Lightning had averaged nearly six goals a game during their win streak, and they didn’t play poorly defensively, allowing just one even-strength goal. But Ullmark was the difference, stopping 31 of the 32 shots he faced, including a pair of breakaways chances by Yanni Gourde and Brandon Hagel.
Now, they’ll have to wait until Saturday, when all three teams play again. The Lightning are at Buffalo.
“We had our chances,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We had multiple breakaways, odd-man rushes, we had unreal looks. In the end, the puck’s had eyes for us the last few weeks, and tonight, it didn’t. ... They’re battling, too. We’re all battling to get in the playoffs, but they haven’t been in for a while, and they played with a lot of guts tonight. And I give them credit.”
With a win, the Lightning (44-26-5, 93 points) also could have come within a point of Toronto for the Atlantic Division lead and taken a three-point lead over Florida for second place. Both the Leafs and Panthers were off Thursday, and all three teams now have seven games remaining in the regular season.
The Lightning put a ton of pressure on Ullmark early, especially through six minutes of power-play time that saw them pepper the Ottawa goaltender with 15 shot attempts, including seven on net, but Ullmark turned them all away.
The Senators opened scoring when Lightning winger Oliver Bjorkstrand lost the puck after crossing the blue line through the middle of the ice, then took a hit from Michael Amadio. With Bjorkstand on the ground and the Lightning abesent on the backcheck, Ottawa finished off a 3-on-2 rush on Shane Pinto’s open shot from between the hashes with 6:15 left in the first.
The Lightning trailed 2-0 after Ottawa scored on its first power-play opportunity — Tampa Bay was whistled for too many men. Tampa Bay was slow to protect the middle of the ice after Tim Stutzle spun away at the left circle and found Jake Sanderson for an open look from the high slot.
Hagel’s 34th goal of the season cut the lead to one at the seven-minute mark in the second — one minute, 43 seconds after Sanderson’s goal — crashing the net to put in a rebound off Yanni Gourde’s initial shot on the rush, which was created by a heady stretch pass from Ryan McDonagh.
Otherwise, Ullmark was bulletproof. His stop on Jake Guentzel in the waning moments of the second period — Guentzel had a wide-open shot from the lower right circle — gave the Senators some momentum going into the third while clinging to the lead. Ottawa also blocked 20 shots in front of Ullmark.
The Lightning held Ottawa to three shots on goal in the third, and had 28 shot attempts and 12 scoring chances in the period, including through a mad scramble in the final moments with an extra attacker and Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled. Tampa Bay has two short-handed scoring chances on the rush in the third, but Hagel was turned away on the breakaway and Anthony Cirelli hit the post.
“I don’t think there’s anything different,” defenseman Darren Raddysh said of the Lightning’s game. “Maybe we can bury our chances a little bit more, but (Ullmark) played good. We had a few breakaways there in the third period, and if we get one of those, it’s a tied game and we’re going to overtime.”
Lighting prospect Isaac Howard was named one of three hat trick finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to the top player in college hockey. Howard led Division I with 1.41 points per game. … Ohio State defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata signed an amateur tryout contract with AHL Syracuse. Hansen-Bukata, 25, led the Big Ten with 29 assists in 38 games.
at Sabres, 7 Saturday TV/radio: FanDuel Sports Sun; 102.5-FM
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Win and they were in.
But the Senators, a team scrapping to solidify their own spot at the postseason table, had other plans on the back of goaltender Linus Ullmark.
The Lightning’s 2-1 loss to the Senators — the sixth in their past seven games at the Canadian Tire Centre dating to Dec. 11, 2021 — not only snapped the team’s four-game win streak, but combined with Montreal’s win over Boston, delayed Tampa Bay from claiming a postseason berth.
The Lightning had averaged nearly six goals a game during their win streak, and they didn’t play poorly defensively, allowing just one even-strength goal. But Ullmark was the difference, stopping 31 of the 32 shots he faced, including a pair of breakaways chances by Yanni Gourde and Brandon Hagel.
Now, they’ll have to wait until Saturday, when all three teams play again. The Lightning are at Buffalo.
“We had our chances,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We had multiple breakaways, odd-man rushes, we had unreal looks. In the end, the puck’s had eyes for us the last few weeks, and tonight, it didn’t. ... They’re battling, too. We’re all battling to get in the playoffs, but they haven’t been in for a while, and they played with a lot of guts tonight. And I give them credit.”
With a win, the Lightning (44-26-5, 93 points) also could have come within a point of Toronto for the Atlantic Division lead and taken a three-point lead over Florida for second place. Both the Leafs and Panthers were off Thursday, and all three teams now have seven games remaining in the regular season.
The Lightning put a ton of pressure on Ullmark early, especially through six minutes of power-play time that saw them pepper the Ottawa goaltender with 15 shot attempts, including seven on net, but Ullmark turned them all away.
The Senators opened scoring when Lightning winger Oliver Bjorkstrand lost the puck after crossing the blue line through the middle of the ice, then took a hit from Michael Amadio. With Bjorkstand on the ground and the Lightning abesent on the backcheck, Ottawa finished off a 3-on-2 rush on Shane Pinto’s open shot from between the hashes with 6:15 left in the first.
The Lightning trailed 2-0 after Ottawa scored on its first power-play opportunity — Tampa Bay was whistled for too many men. Tampa Bay was slow to protect the middle of the ice after Tim Stutzle spun away at the left circle and found Jake Sanderson for an open look from the high slot.
Hagel’s 34th goal of the season cut the lead to one at the seven-minute mark in the second — one minute, 43 seconds after Sanderson’s goal — crashing the net to put in a rebound off Yanni Gourde’s initial shot on the rush, which was created by a heady stretch pass from Ryan McDonagh.
Otherwise, Ullmark was bulletproof. His stop on Jake Guentzel in the waning moments of the second period — Guentzel had a wide-open shot from the lower right circle — gave the Senators some momentum going into the third while clinging to the lead. Ottawa also blocked 20 shots in front of Ullmark.
The Lightning held Ottawa to three shots on goal in the third, and had 28 shot attempts and 12 scoring chances in the period, including through a mad scramble in the final moments with an extra attacker and Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled. Tampa Bay has two short-handed scoring chances on the rush in the third, but Hagel was turned away on the breakaway and Anthony Cirelli hit the post.
“I don’t think there’s anything different,” defenseman Darren Raddysh said of the Lightning’s game. “Maybe we can bury our chances a little bit more, but (Ullmark) played good. We had a few breakaways there in the third period, and if we get one of those, it’s a tied game and we’re going to overtime.”
Notable
Lighting prospect Isaac Howard was named one of three hat trick finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to the top player in college hockey. Howard led Division I with 1.41 points per game. … Ohio State defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata signed an amateur tryout contract with AHL Syracuse. Hansen-Bukata, 25, led the Big Ten with 29 assists in 38 games.
Up next
at Sabres, 7 Saturday TV/radio: FanDuel Sports Sun; 102.5-FM
• • •
Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on Instagram, X and Facebook.
Continue reading...
