Senators 1 - 3 Lightning
Final
  for this game

St. Louis scores twice as Lightning beat Senators

Dec 6, 2013 - 5:12 AM Tampa, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Martin St. Louis scored twice to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday at Tampa Bay Times Forum.

Ondrej Palat assisted on both of St. Louis' goals and Valtteri Filppula also lit the lamp for the Lightning, who were coming off back-to-back shutout losses.

Former Senator Ben Bishop backstopped the Tampa Bay triumph with 33 saves.

"We're not winning this game without Bishop," St. Louis said of his netminder.

Patrick Wiercioch potted Ottawa's lone goal, while Robin Lehner allowed three goals on 22 shots for the Senators, who have lost seven of their last 10 games.

"We couldn't get it past Bish (Bishop) and they could get it past me," Lehner admitted when asked of the difference in the game.

Wiercioch's power-play tally 6:11 into the second tied the game at 1-1, but Palat set up St. Louis' second of the night just over seven minutes later to put the Lightning in front for good.

Much like the first goal, Palat picked up the puck behind the Ottawa net and fed the disc to the front of the cage, where St. Louis one-timed the disc into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead at 13:19.

Filppula added an insurance tally just under 11 minutes into the third, as he skated down the right wing on a 2-on-1 rush before sneaking a wrister under the blocker of Lehner from the right circle to make it 3-1 at 10:56.

Following a 17-save second stanza, Bishop blocked all eight shots he faced in the third to keep the Lightning in front.

With the Lightning struggling to score coming into the tilt, St. Louis got the team on the board late in the first when he stopped a Palat pass with his skate before ripping a quick shot under the glove of Lehner to make it 1-0 at 16:45.

Following an interference penalty against Tampa Bay's Keith Aulie at 5:46 of the second, Wiercioch wheeled around in the high slot and blasted a shot past Bishop to even the score.

Game Notes

St. Louis' first of the game ended Tampa Bay's scoreless streak at 137:19 ... Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman suffered a lower-body injury and did not return ... Tampa Bay had lost five in a row on the road ... Bishop spent one- plus season (2011-13) with Ottawa before being traded to Tampa Bay on Apr. 3 ... Ottawa finished 1-for-5 on the power play.






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