In Ottawa, Vladimir Tarasenko struck for his first goal for the Senators, in a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.
“Winning is exciting,” said Tarasenko, who signed a one-year contract with Ottawa on July 27. “We had a lot of talks before the season. When you win, everything is different. Like, the mood is different, you know? The atmosphere and confidence level.”
Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves in the win.
Brady Tkachuk hit for a double and three points in the win. It was his second straight game with two goals.
“Two games of playing our type of hockey,” Tkachuk said. “That’s just been our goal. We don’t care about wins or losses, it’s just how quickly we get to our game. I think we’ve shown that we’re starting to find it now, and I think we’re going to keep building on it.
“There were definitely those years where they were putting up an automatic 40 (shots) on us and the goalies had to stand on their heads. That’s always been our goal, to limit the chances for [Korpisalo] and [Anton Forsberg], and I think we’re starting to do that.”
Tarasenko opened the scoring in the first period to give the Sens a 1-0 lead.
Tampa’s Anthony Cirelli knotted the game, 1-1, with 60 seconds gone in the middle frame.
Tkachuk put Ottawa ahead, 2-1, jut ahead of the midway point of the second period.
“We just need a little bit more production and we just can’t be giving up, you know, four [goals] a night,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s not a recipe for a win. Our goaltenders have been great. I thought, ‘That kind of [stinks] for Tom.’ You know, his NHL debut and I thought he did great. He gave us a chance. We needed a couple more goals and just couldn’t get them.”
With seven minutes left in the second, Tanner Jeannot tied the game for the Lightning at 2-2.
The Sens reclaimed the lead, 3-2, with 59 seconds left in the period on a marker from Mathieu Joseph.
Tkachuk pushed the lead to 4-2 with his second of the night at 12:53 of the third.
“I think he understands winning hockey,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said of Tkachuk. “But there’s lots of guys in there that are helping him.”
Tim Stutzle scored an empty-net goal to seal the win at 5-2.
“We’ve been beaten up a lot as a group,” Smith said. “As young guys, they were developing and we took a lot of lickings. A lot of these teams handed them out to us. They know how hard it is to try and beat these good players, so I think we respect the fact that it takes the chip and chase, just winning an inch here, an inch there. It’s good to see.”
Matt Tomkins made 33 saves in his NHL debut with the Lightning.
“[Tomkins] was unbelievable,” Cirelli said. “From the first puck drop he made huge saves and kept us in that game the whole game. Huge credit to him the way he came in here, and he made saves and played really well.”
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