The Ottawa Senators came roaring back from a lopsided first period to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4, in the season opener. They bucked the trend we saw in the season series last season, when both these expansion sister teams won their respective home games.
Before either team got on the board, we saw the game get physical. In his first career shift, Lightning forward Curtis Douglas dropped the gloves with Senators forward Kurtis MacDermid. Douglas took MacDermid down to the ice quickly, energizing the Lightning for the first period.
Oliver Bjorkstrand opened the scoring in the game with a power-play goal, and Brayden Point extended the game to 2-0. Dylan Cozens got the Senators on the board to make it 2-1, but Nikita Kucherov made it a two-goal game again with another power-play goal to wrap up the first period of play.
Going forward, the tide would turn in favor of the Senators. What helped get the Lightning going early quickly faded.
- Claude Giroux: 1 goal
- Brayden Point: 1 goal, 2 assists
- Brady Tkachuk: 2 assists
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