Jake Sanderson scored twice and Brady Tkachuk logged four assists to help the Ottawa Senators tighten their hold on a playoff spot with a 6-2 win against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
Tim Stutzle had a goal and two assists for the Senators (41-27-10, 92 points), who have won two straight and three of their past four games to remain in the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Ottawa is two points up on the Columbus Blue Jackets and three points ahead of both the Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders.
Ottawa got a goal apiece from Jordan Spence, Shane Pinto and Fabian Zetterlund, and Drake Batherson had two assists. Goalie Linus Ullmark made 28 saves.
Nick Paul and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist while Jonas Johansson made 26 saves for the Lightning (48-24-6, 102 points), who have lost consecutive games for the first time since March 8-10. Tampa Bay is now in a three-way tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens.
Spence gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 15:46 of the second period. He finished off a short give-and-go with Tkachuk on a 2-on-1 and beat Johansson with a shot from the right hashmark that went in off the crossbar.
Paul tied it 1-1 when he received a feed from Perry and lifted a backhand over Ullmark’s glove from in front at 18:23 of the middle period.
Zetterlund’s shot from the top of the left circle went off Erik Cernak and past Johansson to put Ottawa ahead 2-1 at 2:45 of the third period.
Sanderson pushed it to 3-1 at 4:39. He took a pass from Stutzle in the neutral zone, skated down the right side and then cut to the net to slip a backhand under Johansson’s left pad.
Perry pulled the Lightning with 3-2 at 10:35, tipping Ryan McDonagh’s shot over Ullmark.
Stutzle pounced on a rebound amid a scramble in the crease and put it over Johansson’s right pad on a power play to make it 4-2 at 12:51. Tampa Bay challenged for goaltender interference, but the call on the ice stood after video review, sending Ottawa back on the power play.
Sanderson capitalized on the man advantage to increase it to 5-2, taking a feed from Tkachuk for a partial break and slipping a backhand by Johansson’s left pad at 13:04.
Pinto scored a short-handed empty-net goal at 16:41 for the 6-2 final.
