In Tampa Saturday night, a seemingly easy 4-2 victory was on tap for the Lightning who dominated the Ottawa Senators through 40 minutes of play.
But as anyone who knows the cliche is aware, there are those pesky final 20 minutes.
The Senators made use of the final period and struck for four unanswered goals to defeat the Lightning, 6-4.
Brady Tkachuk, Colin White, Ryan Dzingel, and Mark Stone all scored in the final frame to stun Tampa Bay.
“I thought our second period we had a lot of chances, but we weren’t shooting as much,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said. “All of a sudden in the third period, with the same chances, we decided to shoot. Funny things happen when you shoot.”
The Senators improved to 7-7-3.
“Our leaders stepped up at intermission and told us to believe in the system and believe in the process,” Tkachuk said. “And we did. We got pucks on the net and got rewarded for it.”
Craig Anderson made 24 saves to pick up the win.
“I thought [Anderson] did a really good job in the third of shutting the door,” Matt Duchene said. “I’m really proud of the boys, and the character we showed tonight is the character that we have in here.”
Victor Hedman returned to the lineup from an injury and had a goal in the loss.
“We played a good second period, but we’ve got to do a better job of closing it out,” Hedman said. “We had our chances, but we’ll learn from it and be ready for the next game.”
Mathieu Joseph had two goals for Tampa Bay and Braydon Coburn added a single marker.
“It’s a tough loss,” Joseph said. “We have to look at what we did bad in the third period. I think we have to help [Vasilevskiy] a little bit more.”
Duchene and Bobby Ryan also scored for Ottawa.
The Lightning dropped to 12-4-1 and had a four-game win streak snapped.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it was kind of a perfect storm against us,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “First one we put in, then [White] makes a good tip and it’s a tie game, and then they make a nice play … and all of a sudden you’re chasing.”
[WATCH: All Senators vs. Lightning highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves in the loss
“When we’re up two goals going into the third, we have to be better. And we have to have a better start,” Killorn said after the collapse n the third period.
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