TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Shane Pinto scored his second goal of the night late in the third period, lifting the Ottawa Senators to a 5-4 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday in the season opener for both teams.
Dylan Cozens and Artus Zub also scored for the Senators, and Claude Giroux added an empty-netter. Brady Tkachuk had three assists.
Linus Ullmark stopped 21 shots for Ottawa.
Brayden Point recorded a goal and two assists for Tampa Bay, which now has a 21-10-2 record in season openers. Nikita Kucherov tallied two goals, and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a power-play goal.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, who played only two periods in the preseason, finished with 29 saves.
Jake Sanderson intercepted a pass at center ice and quickly moved up the ice to take the puck to the net, allowing Pinto to punch in a loose puck with 1:47 remaining, putting the Senators ahead for good at 4-3.
The Lightning seized an early lead as Bjorkstrand, who was acquired from Seattle at last season’s trade deadline, slipped into the slot to receive a pass from Jake Guentzel and fired a shot past Ullmark with 14:25 remaining in the first period. Point extended the lead to 2-0 less than 90 seconds later, and Cozens responded with a power-play goal for Ottawa midway through the period.
Kucherov regained the two-goal advantage for Tampa Bay with 5:14 left in the first on the Lightning’s second power-play goal of the period.
Zub directed a puck toward the net at the start of the second period, which bounced off the post and then off Vasilevskiy just 42 seconds into the period. Pinto scored on a breakaway to even the game with 4:51 remaining in the second.
Up next
Senators: At Florida on Saturday.
Lightning: Host New Jersey on Saturday.
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