Ullmark, Senators hold off Lightning for 2-1 victory

By Canadian Press on April 3, 2025.

OTTAWA — Linus Ullmark made 31 saves as the Ottawa Senators earned a 2-1 victory to snap the Tampa Bay Lightning’s four-game winning streak on Thursday.

Trailing 2-1 to start the third period, the Lightning (44-26-5) pressed for the equalizer but were unable to beat Ullmark.

Ullmark was at his best in the final few minutes of regulation, turning away a number of shots.

Jake Sanderson, with his second in as many games, gave the Senators (40-29-6) a 2-0 lead burying a Tim Stutzle drop pass on the power play 5:17 into the second period.

Ryan McDonagh made a great stretch pass allowing Yanni Gourde to take a shot and Brandon Hagel buried the rebound to put the Lightning on the board at 7:00 of the second.

Despite Tampa Bay controlling much of the play in the first period, it was the Senators who opened the scoring.

Shane Pinto took advantage of a 3-on-2, beating Andrei Vasilevsky, who made 17 saves, glove side at 13:45 of the first.

The Senators were without Brady Tkachuk for the second straight game. The captain is dealing with an upper-body injury and remains day-to-day.

Takeaways

Senators: The Senators struggled defensively at times and relied heavily on Ullmark.

Lightning: Tampa generated a number of chances on the power play but was unable to capitalize.

Key moment

With Tampa trailing 2-1, Ullmark made a huge save on Jake Guentzel with 23 seconds remaining in the second period.

Up next

Senators: Host the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

Lightning: Travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2025.

Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press