The Tampa Bay Lightning were looking to put the 8-1 drubbing they received at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins behind them when they took to the ice Saturday against the woeful Ottawa Senators. And they were looking to do it against a team they have not had a lot of success against in Ottawa.
In what has become a blossoming rivalry between these two clubs, the game got off to a chippy start early on, with Chris Neil coming a long way to throw a hit on Mattias Ohlund. Steve Downie returned the favor later in the period when he got a decent shot in on an Ottawa player. While they appeared to be the same hit, Downie would go off for charging. The rough stuff would continue late in the period when Jarkko Ruutu, already on his way off for a hooking infraction, stack a knee out to dangerously take out Marty St. Louis. The Lightning would get four minutes of power-play time out of the sequence, but were unable to convert. The teams would take the game to intermission with no score.
Into the second, it would be the Senators that would get on the board first, when forward Zach Smith beat Roloson on a two on one to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead. The goal at the 17:25 mark of the 2nd was Smiths third goal of the year.
Onto the third, it would be the Lightning that would take the momentum back in this one when Adam Hall forced an offensive zone turnover. Hall was able to get the puck over to Dominic Moore, who squeezed a pass back to Hall who was able to get the puck past Ottawa goalie Brian Elliot to tie the game at one. The goal at 1:47 mark of the third was Halls 6th goal of the year, and a big turning point in a game where the Lightning looked sluggish at times.
The Lightning would turn up the pressure even more in the third and it would pay off. With the puck in the offensive zone, Steven Stamkos would get possession of it in the slot. With three Ottawa players swarming to Stamkos, he was able to get a quick shot off. The rebound was kicked straight to a wide open Marty St. Louis, who beat Elliot for his 18th goal of the year. The goal at the 5:43 mark of the third would give the Lightning a 2-1 lead, a lead that they would hold on to.
The story in this game would be the play of goaltender Dwayne Roloson. Roloson made many key stops both early and late in the game to keep the Lightning in it when they were not at their best. Roloson made 31 saves on 32 shots and was excellent throughout this game.
The Lightning will wrap up the road trip tomorrow afternoon when they take on another team that has struggled of late, the New Jersey Devils. That one will get underway shortly after 5pm.
Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mcorcoran81
This article appears in Jan 6-12, 2011.