Tampa Bay @ Ottawa preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 1, 2019 ) Tampa Bay 5, Ottawa 2

Brayden Point showed very little rust in his season debut last time out and the All-Star center looks to keep it going when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the winless Ottawa Senators on Saturday for an Atlantic Division matchup. Point recorded a pair of goals and added an assist in Tampa Bay’s 7-3 victory at Toronto on Thursday after sitting out the first three games while working his way back from double hip surgery.

Point, who had 41 goals and 92 points last season before signing a three-year contract worth $20.25 million during training camp, shined alongside reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov and captain Steven Stamkos on Thursday as the duo combined for 11 points. “We didn’t know how Point was going to be out there not having played a game, but he was amazing,” Stamkos told reporters. “If he can skate the way he did tonight, it pushes the play and allows Kucherov to make plays and me to get open in space.” Ottawa coughed up an early two-goal lead and dropped a 6-4 decision at home against St. Louis on Thursday, but showed some promise while being tied with the reigning Stanley Cup winners deep into the third period. “I thought we could’ve won the game,” first-year Senators coach D.J. Smith told reporters. “We had some long stretches where they were in our zone, but I thought we boxed out hard, we battled hard in our zone, especially early. I think they just wore on us as the game went on.”

TV: 4 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), TSN5, TVA2 (Ottawa)

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (2-1-1): Kucherov finished with two goals and two assists Thursday and is tied with Stamkos for the team lead at six points - one better than defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (five assists, plus-5 rating). Sergachev moved to the top pair with Victor Hedman during the Toronto win in place of Kevin Shattenkirk (three goals, one assist), who scored again Thursday while partnered with fellow veteran Braydon Coburn. With Point back, rookie Carter Verhaeghe moved from wing on the third line to center on the fourth between Luke Witkowski and Patrick Maroon.

ABOUT THE SENATORS (0-3-0): Forward Vitaly Abramov, who was acquired from Columbus in the Matt Duchene deal in February, scored his first goal in his second NHL contest Thursday. “I thought he skated well,” Smith told reporters of the 21-year-old Russian. “He put pucks in, he went and got them, he got rewarded, he scores in front of the net. Probably looking back (I’d) get him a few more minutes, but I thought the kid was really good.” Former Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov had an assist and two shots in his Ottawa debut Thursday after being acquired from the New York Rangers on Monday.

OVERTIME

1. Ottawa LW Brady Tkachuk, who had two goals in three games against the Lightning in 2018-19, has scored in two of the team’s first three contests.

2. Tampa Bay G Andrei Vasilevskiy owns a career .896 save percentage versus the Senators - second-worst against Eastern Conference teams.

3. The Senators have struggled on special teams in the first three games, going 0-for-8 on the power play and 8-for-12 on the penalty kill.

PREDICTION: Lightning 6, Senators 2