Two goals in 36 seconds help Lightning defeat the Senators, 3-1
The Hockey News
Johan Holmqvist made 22 saves for the Lightning, who have won three straight and seven of 10. The goalie made a sliding pad save on Joseph Corvo's in-close shot in the second.
Tampa Bay also got a power-play goal from Martin St. Louis with 1:18 left.
Jason Spezza scored for the Senators, who had won four in a row.
The Lightning had lost eight straight regular-season games to Ottawa, dating to a 2-1 win in Ottawa on March 1, 2003. This was the first meeting between the teams since the Senators beat Tampa Bay in five games in an Eastern Conference quarter-finals last spring.
Kuba tied it 1-1 at 10:28 of the second. Richards then gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead from the slot with 8:56 left in the period.
Spezza put the Senators ahead 1-0 from the top of the right circle at 3:34 of the first. Dany Heatley, who has two assists and five points in the last two games, assisted on the goal.
Ottawa's Andrej Meszaros hit the post and Heatley had a backhander stopped by Holmqvist midway through the third.
Notes: Senators D Anton Volchenkov (lower body injury) didn't play . . . St. Louis also had an assist, and has five assists and nine points during a four-game point streak . . . Senators RW Daniel Alfredsson had his seven-game point streak end. He had three goals and five assists during the stretch.
