Lightning beat Senators 5-1 to sweep two-game series in Florida

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Hagel scored the go-ahead goal for the second consecutive game, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Ottawa 5-1 on Thursday night to sweep a two-game set with the Senators.

Tampa Bay moved into a tie with Ottawa for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Lightning also beat the Senators 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak also scored for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves.

Michael Amadio scored for Ottawa, and Anton Forsberg stopped 26 shots.

Guentzel opened the scoring with a power-play goal on a rebound, his NHL-leading 13th power play goal, at 9:23 of the first period.

Amadio tied it with a tip of Thomas Chabot’s shot at 5:27 of the second. Hagel regained the lead off a stretch pass from Ryan McDonagh for a breakaway goal with 9:44 left in the period.

Point scored with 4:16 left, and Cernak added an empty-net goal with 52 seconds remaining. Chaffee scored with 26 seconds left.

Takeaways

Senators: Centrer Shane Pinto sat out after leaving in the first period Tuesday with a lower-body injury.

Lightning: Centre Anthony Cirelli, who is scheduled to represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off next week, missed the game with an upper-body injury. … Forward Conor Sheary was recalled and appeared in his first NHL game since Nov. 30.

Key moment

Tampa Bay just failed to convert on a power play chance with the score tied. As Jake Sanderson exited the penalty box, the Lightning lost coverage behind the play and allowed a 2-on-1 chance. But Vasilevskiy stopped the open chance from Matthew Highmore at 9:05 of the second. Hagel scored 1:09 later.

Key stat

The Lightning are 7-1-1 in the past nine home games.

Up next

Both teams are in action Saturday. Ottawa is at Florida, and Tampa Bay is at Detroit.

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