Anderson makes 35 saves, Sens down Bolts
Posted January 5, 2012 10:28 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Craig Anderson made 35 saves and Kyle Turris scored his first goal in an Ottawa uniform Thursday as the Senators defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1.
Daniel Alfredsson scored into an empty net and added two assists, while Jason Spezza and Zach Smith had the other goals for Ottawa (21-15-5). Turris also picked up an assist.
The win capped off a big day for the Senators, who learned earlier that Spezza, Alfredsson, winger Milan Michalek and defenceman Erik Karlsson had been voted in by fans to start the all-star game.
The game will be played at Scotiabank Place on Jan. 29.
Steven Stamkos scored his league-leading 28th of the season for Tampa Bay (17-19-3), which got 20 saves from Dwayne Roloson.
The Senators have won four straight, while the Lightning have lost two games in a row.
Anderson kept Ottawa in the game as the desperate Tampa Bay squad seemed to come in waves at times, especially in the second period when the Lightning held a 16-8 shot advantage.
Turris scored against the run of play to make it 2-0 at 17:07 of the second period on a neat deflection off a pass from Alfredsson.
Stamkos scored off a scramble at 8:48 of the third to make it 2-1. Stamkos, who has scored eight times during a five-game goal streak, ruined Anderson’s bid for the Senators’ first shutout of the season.
Smith put the game out of reach with a bullet slapshot off another Alfredsson feed at 16:34. The Senators captain then iced the game with an empty-net goal at 19:07 for a three-point night.
Spezza opened the scoring by shovelling a puck past Roloson at 10:36 of the first off a point shot from Sergei Gonchar.
Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis rang a shot that rattled off the posts but stayed out early in the third as he failed to record a point for the first time in his last eight games, including six in a row since returning from facial and nasal fractures.
St. Louis had scored a goal in each of his previous two games when he was hit by a shot in practice on Dec. 8. He missed the next five games, ending his consecutive games streak at 499.
Tampa Bay lost 7-3 in Toronto on Tuesday night to end a three-game winning streak. The Lightning wrap up its three-game trip through Eastern Canada on Saturday night in Montreal.
Ottawa plays back-to-back games with Philadelphia on Saturday and Sunday.
.Notes: The Senators were without D Chris Phillips (concussion, day-to-day), C Jesse Winchester (concussion, day-to-day), C Peter Regin (shoulder, indefinitely). … Tampa was without D Mattias Ohlund (knee surgery, indefinite), RW Ryan Shannon (lower body, 2-4 weeks), D Victor Hedman (concussion, indefinite), LW Ryan Malone (lower body, questionable). D Evan Oberg was a healthy scratch. … Roloson was making his first start since Dec. 12.
