Ottawa Senators vs Tampa Bay Lightning Match Player Stats On Dec 16, 2021

Victor Hedman scored the tiebreaking goal on the power play - set up by Steven Stamkos' 900th career point - and the Tampa Bay Lightning won 2-1 over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Hedman, who also had an assist, notched his seventh goal this season to break a second-period 1-1 tie and help the Lightning to their sixth straight win on home ice.

Stamkos, a 14-year veteran, collected the secondary assist for the milestone point.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy posted 25 saves to go to 16-4-3 and win for the sixth straight start.

The Russian netminder also set an NHL record by improving to 63-21-4 in the 2021 calendar year, including regular-season and playoff games. The victory pushed him past Marc-Andre Fleury, who produced a 62-30-6 mark in 2009 with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Alex Killorn also scored for Tampa Bay, which is 12-3-2 at home against Ottawa since the 2012-13 season.

Thomas Chabot notched his first goal, and Anton Forsberg made 25 saves for the Senators, who had their two-game winning streak broken and fell to 0-13-0 when trailing after two periods.

In the teams' second meeting this season, in Ottawa on Sunday, the Senators controlled play throughout and won 4-0 behind career-firsts by Brady Tkachuk (hat trick) and Forsberg (shutout).

Both Forsberg and Vasilevskiy entered the game riding five-game winning streaks, and the Ottawa goalie kept it scoreless on the game's initial premier scoring chance - Taylor Raddysh's tip attempt from the low slot at 11:48.

But Chabot made it 1-0 for the visitors at 15:43 when he stole a Lightning pass in the neutral zone, swooped to his right past fellow defenseman Ryan McDonagh and elevated his first goal this season on a forehand flip over Vasilevskiy.

In the second, Tampa Bay turned up the pressure in the first three minutes in a big way, culminating with Ross Colton driving from the right side and sending a slick pass to Killorn, who easily tapped in his ninth marker at 3:47.

Vasilevskiy stuffed Connor Brown on a breakaway just over a minute later, and the Lightning's second power play of the period produced the home side's first lead.

After Tkachuk went off for high-sticking at 14:10, Raddysh and Stamkos set up Hedman, who hesitated then fired home a tally less than a minute later for a 2-1 advantage that stood up.

--Field Level Media