Senators top Lightning, 3-2, after penalties Tkachuk hits winner on skills

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In Tampa, the visiting Ottawa Senators shook off the Lighting’s Nikita Kucherov’s 141st point on the season in a 3-2 win after penalties on Thursday night.

Kucherov  had two assists in the loss.

“[Kucherov] is unbelievable, gives our team a chance to win every night,” the Lightning’s Brayden Point said. “We’ve got three games left, hopefully he can do it. That’s a lot of assists. He’s a heck of a player. It’s awesome and he works so hard.”

Anton Forsberg made 24 saves in the win.

“I love staying for shootouts and stuff, battling with the guys,” Forsberg said. “We do some in warmups, if I’m not playing I’m out there and I’ll take as many as I have to. I just think it’s a fun 1-on-1 thing to do and it’s worked out pretty well so far this year.”

The Senators moved to 35-40-4.

Brady Tkachuk was credited with the game winner, he was the only scorer in the skills portion of the evening’s affairs.

Tkachuk staked the Senators to a 1-0 lead at 8:45 of the opening stanza, scoring off a shot from the right circle.

“I like how we persevered and stayed with it, after kind of a slow start,” Senators interim coach Jacques Martin said. “I thought we were much more physical in the second period and we were quicker. I thought we really competed hard and got a great effort from everybody.”

Tampa Bay replied with a marker form Conor Sheary at 9:45 of the first, scoring off a backhand. for a 1-1 tie.

“I’ve been watching [Kucherov] all year long. It’s nice to be on the receiving end of one of those,” Sheary said. “It’s pretty incredible. There’s obviously two guys racing for [100 assists] this year (Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid has 99), which is insane. His ability on the ice, his poise with the puck and his ability to make plays seemingly under pressure all the time is pretty impressive.”

The Lightning dropped to 44-27-8, they remain in the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and are five points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for third in the Atlantic Division.

“It’s a team sport and that’s what we’re driven by, but at times there’s individual stuff going on and that probably takes a little bit more focus in the last couple of games,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “But we had two goals tonight, we had chances to score and we didn’t.”

Point pushed the Lightning into a 2-1 lad at 12:56 of the first,.

The score stayed 2-1 into the third period.

Ottawa’s Drake Batherson forced extra tie when he potted a goal at 2:11, scoring off a rebound on the right side of the crease.

“We’re focused on finishing the season strong,” Batherson said. “We’ve got one home game left against Montreal, so we’ll be excited for that Saturday and finish the last two on the road against some good teams (at the New York Rangers on Monday, and at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday). It’ll be a fun finish and we’ll be looking to build on this (2-1-0) road trip.”

Matt Tomkins made 25 saves in the loss.