The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to win consecutive games
for the first time in over three weeks when they visit the struggling Ottawa
Senators tonight for a test at Scotiabank Place.
The Lightning ended a two-game slide with Tuesday's close victory in Toronto.
Tampa is 3-3-2 since it last notched back-to-back wins by defeating Carolina
and Florida on October 10 and 12, respectively.
Ryan Malone scored the game-winning goal 2:21 into overtime to lift the
Lightning to a 2-1 decision over the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre. Vinny
Lecavalier also scored for the Lightning, while goaltender Antero Niittymaki
was stellar with 40 saves in the winning effort.
"Tonight was a grind -- I thought our penalty kill was outstanding," said
Tampa Bay's Steve Stamkos. "It was not a pretty win, but we'll take it."
Stamkos, who is leading Tampa in goals (11) and points (16) this year, had an
eight-game point streak snapped in Tuesday's win.
Niittymaki, meanwhile, has made his case for taking over Tampa's No. 1
goaltending slot recently. The Finnish backstop is 3-1-1 on the year with a
1.95 goals-against average and has so far outplayed starter Mike Smith, who is
2-3-3 with a 3.64 GAA. Head coach Rick Tocchet will play the hot hand again,
as Niittymaki is expected to get his second straight tonight.
The Bolts are 1-1-0 on a four-game road trip that is scheduled to end Saturday
in Montreal. Tampa is just 1-4-1 as the visiting club this season and plays
nine of its 14 games this month on the road.
The Senators come into tonight's test having lost two straight and four of
their last five games. Ottawa was handed a 5-2 loss last Thursday in Tampa and
followed that up by losing 3-1 against visiting Atlanta on Saturday. Ondrej
Pavelec made 50 saves as the Thrashers downed Ottawa, 3-1.
Mike Fisher scored the lone Ottawa goal while Pascal Leclaire made 18 saves
for the Senators.
"We did some good things and worked hard tonight, but we just didn't get the
breaks," said Fisher. "We ran into a hot goalie tonight and there's not much
you can do about that."
The Senators could be without their top centerman Jason Spezza again tonight.
Spezza, who has eight assists on the year, has sat out the last two games with
an upper-body injury, but did skate with the team at Wednesday's practice and
is considered questionable for this evening's tilt.
Ottawa is playing the second test on a four-game homestand tonight and is
3-2-2 as the host this season. The Sens will also welcome New Jersey and
Edmonton before heading back out on the road.
The Sens and Lightning have split two meetings this season, with Ottawa
notching a 7-1 home decision on October 15 and Tampa bouncing back with last
week's triumph. Ottawa has taken five of the last seven meetings overall in
the series, while the Lightning have dropped three straight, four of five and
nine of their last 11 in Canada's capital city.
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