OTTAWA, Ontario - Steven Stamkos scored his sixth goal of the season to break a tie midway through the third period and Ondrej Palat added the game-winner with under two minutes to play as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Ottawa Senators 5-3 on Saturday.
Victor Hedman, Jan Rutta, and Anthony Cirelli also scored for the Lightning and Brian Elliott stopped 24 shots.
Connor Brown, newly appointed captain Brady Tkachuk, and Logan Shaw scored for Ottawa and Matt Murray made 29 saves.
Stamkos was left alone at the side of the net as Victor Mete had a defensive breakdown and buried the loose puck at 7:32.
Palat scored at 18:19 and Cirelli added an empty-net goal at 19:26 before Shaw tipped in a goal for Ottawa 18 seconds later.
Trailing 1-0, Brown tied the game for Ottawa early in the second on a fantastic effort at the end of a long shift. Brown forced a turnover inside the zone, drove to the net and beat Elliott up high.
Tampa thought it had regained the lead shortly after, but a goal was waved off due to goaltender interference. The Lightning lost the ensuing challenge.
Tampa made it 2-1 midway through the period when Rutta scored from the slot.
With under a minute remaining in the period, Tkachuk buried a one-timer to tie it 2-2.
The Lightning opened the scoring at 4:27 of the first period with a power-play goal by Hedman, his first goal of the season. Hedman fired a shot from the blueline and it was tipped by Ottawa’s Josh Brown, leaving Murray with little chance to stop it.
GAME NOTES
Lightning: Tampa Bay has recorded points in five consecutive games (4-0-1).
Senators: Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch. ... Tyler Ennis missed the game with a non-COVID-19 related illness. ... Mikhail Sergachev served the first of his two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Toronto's Mitch Marner.
UP NEXT
Tampa Bay: Lightning return home to host Carolina on Tuesday night.
Ottawa: Senators travel to Boston for a Tuesday night matchup against the Bruins.