Ottawa Senators lose to Lightning in return of Linus Ullmark

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The good news: Ottawa Senators goalie Linus Ullmark finally returned to play an NHL game after a 44-day absence.

More good news: American hockey fans didn’t boo O Canada.

The bad news: The Senators lost 4-3 to the Lightning Tuesday in Tampa Bay. It snapped Ottawa’s winning streak at five games.

It was Ullmark’s first start since he injured his back Dec. 22.

“(Ullmark) did a great job stepping in,” defenceman Nick Jensen, who had missed the previous five games with an undisclosed injury, told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson. “I know he missed a lot of time, but he didn’t look like that the way he played. He played a big role in the early part of the game when we weren’t really on our toes. He kept us in the game, he gave us a chance.”

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The Senators started slow against a very highly skilled Tampa Bay team.

“We were sporadically good in certain parts (of the game) and sporadically bad,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “Tampa came out in their building and pushed hard. Linus gave us some saves to keep us in there.”

“We didn’t play a bad game, but it wasn’t our best,” Senators winger Claude Giroux, who scored one of Ottawa’s goals, said. “We stuck in there, we had our chances.”

The Senators took a 1-0 lead with 5:51 let in the first period when Michael Amadio swatted a puck into the net in a goalmouth scramble. It was a power-play goal, the fourth straight game in which Ottawa has scored with the man advantage.

Luke Glendening redirected a shot from the point high over Ullmark’s glove hand to tie the game 1-1 1:43 into the second.

On a nice passing play, Nikita Kucherov made it 2-1 for the Lightning with a power-play blast 7:38 into the period.

The Senators tied the game 52 seconds later, with Giroux wristing a shot that found the net through traffic.

The Senators scored with 2:06 left in the first period, but the officials waved it off, saying Adam Gaudette interfered with Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

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Tampa Bay took a 3-2 lead as Brandon Hagel rifled a wrist shot through the legs of Tyler Kleven and past Ullmark 1:56 into the third period.

Vasilevskiy made a series of big stops, including a spectacular foot save off Giroux near the midway point of the third.

The Senators got a big opportunity with 3:46 left when Ryan McDonagh was penalized for tripping.

But McDonagh came out of the penalty box, raced down the ice and scored for Tampa Bay with 1:35 left.

With Ullmark on the bench for an extra attacker, Drake Batherson made it 4-3 with 1:20 left.

DANDY SANDY

Jake Sanderson is on a roll. Named the NHL’s third star of the week Monday, he’s on six-game point streak.

He had scored in three straight games, matching the franchise record for longest by a defenceman.

Other Senators defencemen to score in three straight games through the years: Erik Karlsson, Thomas Chabot, Wade Redden, Tom Preissing, Zdeno Chara, Chris Phillips, Karel Rachunek.

The other NHL blueliners who have scored in at least three straight games this season: Shayne Gostisbehere, Colton Parayko, Brandon Montour and Rasmus Dahlin.

THE INJURY BUG

The Senators were already down a key centre, with Josh Norris out for a few weeks with a “mid-body” injury.

Tuesday, the Senators absorbed another body blow when Shane Pinto went down with what looked like an arm/shoulder injury.

Following the game, Green said he had no update on the status of Pinto.

If Pinto is sidelined, the Senators will have to add a forward prior to their next game, Thursday, also in Tampa Bay.

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