Lightning 3, Senators 2
TAMPA, Fla. -- Goaltender Ben Bishop beat his former team less than a week after being traded as the Tampa Bay Lightning edged the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night at Tampa Bay Times Forum.
Or maybe Bishop was just in the right place at the right time. Tampa Bay converted a power play with less than five minutes left into the go-ahead goal by Steven Stamkos, who is tied for the league lead with 26 goals.
Ottawa's Sergei Gonchar had been forced to hook Stamkos breaking alone up the left wing as he popped off the bench just 16 seconds earlier. Senators goaltender Craig Anderson was helpless on the final goal as Stamkos rushed to his open back side and took a pass from Vincent Lecavalier.
Ottawa (19-13-6) has lost five consecutive games. Tampa Bay (16-20-2) snapped a two-game losing sreak.
The Senators tied the score 2-2 just 21 seconds into the third period when Bishop -- the tallest goaltender in NHL history at 6 feet 7 -- couldn't jump high enough to snare an airborne puck and Guillaume Latendresse was behind him to whack in it when it came down.
Ottawa took a 1-0 lead with 5:31 left in the first period on Daniel Alfredsson's ninth goal of the season. The right winger snuck behind Lightning defenseman Eric Brewer in the crease to jam in a Bishop rebound from a Kyle Turris shot from the left side.
The goal was reviewed for a potential use of high stick. Ironically, Turris had a tying goal disallowed in the second period because he used a high-sticking motion to redirect an Aldredsson blast.
Pierre-Cedric Labrie tied the score 2:35 into the second period when he shoveled a loose puck past Anderson as Ottawa's Peter Regin opted to play Nate Thompson in the crease instead. The goal was the first of Labrie's NHL career.
Ottawa recoiled after the goal, committed two penalties within two seconds of each other, including a costly faceoff violation by Regin that gave the Lighting a five-on-three chance. Vincent Lecavalier chipped in a rebound od a Teddy Purcell shot just 39 seconds into the power play for a 2-1 Lightning lead.
The goal was Lecavalier's ninth of the season. Purcell (22) and Martin St. Louis (39) earned assists. The point was the 900th of St. Louis' NHL career.
Tampa Bay capitalized on just one of five Senators penalties in the period but used them to maintain momentum and a 2-1 lead entering the third.
NOTES: Left winger Ryan Malone returned after missing eight games with a left shoulder injury. He played on the Lightning's top points-producing line with Stamkos and St. Louis. ... Centers Tom Pyatt and Benoit Pouliot were healthy scratches for Tampa Bay. ... Rookie Cory Conacher, traded Wednesday to Ottawa in a deal for Bishop, entered the game as the Senators' top scorer with 25 points and 10 goals. He has one goal in two games with Ottawa. ... Bishop became the fourth different Lightning goalie used against the Senators in their three-game series this season. ... Bishop and Conacher may have passed on the transaction wire, but they met face to face when Conacher bowled into the goalie seven minutes into the game. .... Stamkos entered the game tied for the NHL lead in goals (25) with Washington's Alex Ovechkin.
