Ottawa @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 10, 2018 ) Ottawa 6, Tampa Bay 4

Marc Crawford takes over as coach of the league-worst Ottawa Senators on Saturday night when they start a stretch of five road games in the next six against the NHL-best Tampa Bay Lightning. Guy Boucher, who has led the Lightning and Senators within one win of the Stanley Cup finals, was fired in the middle of his third season with Ottawa on Friday after its sixth consecutive loss one day earlier against Edmonton.

“I told (the players) that recently our play wasn’t acceptable, and that moving forward I didn’t want any excuses,” Senators general manager Pierre Dorion told the media. “I think we’re fielding a team from now to the end of the year that can win games. And we want to see this team win games, develop, grow, have a great culture, play for each other, play for the coaching staff, and more importantly play for our fans.” Crawford, an assistant for Boucher, becomes an NHL head coach again for the first time since the 2011-12 season with Dallas and owns 549 wins with five different organizations, including a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1995-96. Crawford’s first chore will be to find a way to knock off the Lightning, who suffered their first regulation loss in 15 games Thursday with a 4-1 setback at Boston and lead the league in scoring (3.80) with three players boasting at least 30 goals and 77 points. “Maybe a little blessing in disguise tonight, play a good team that plays the right way, that checks really well and you get a result like that,” Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos told reporters Thursday after his team was outshot 41-21. “Maybe a little bit of a wake-up call for us.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, TVA2, CITY (Ottawa), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)

ABOUT THE SENATORS (22-37-5): Three of the team’s top scorers were dealt before Monday’s trade deadline and Ottawa has managed only five goals in the past five games, including a pair of shutouts. All-Star defenseman Thomas Chabot has only one of his team-high 47 points in the past five contests, and center Chris Tierney (41 points) snapped an 18-game goal drought with his seventh of the season on Thursday. Bobby Ryan had three of his 35 points while rookie Brady Tkachuk (32 points, 53 games) posted a goal and an assist in the 6-4 victory at Tampa Bay on Nov. 10.

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (49-12-4): Right wing Nikita Kucherov leads the league with 104 points after being named First Star of the Month for February, but must avoid being held off the scoresheet in back-to-back games for the fifth time this season Saturday. Stamkos (77 points) is mired in a five-game goal drought as he remained two behind Vincent Lecavalier for the franchise record (383). All-Star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was rested Thursday, is expected back in net seeking his 30th win of the season after going 9-0-2 with 1.57 goals-against average and .950 save percentage in February.

OVERTIME

1. Tampa Bay F Tyler Johnson (22 goals) has recorded 25 of his 39 points in 31 home games with 14 coming in 32 contests on the road.

2. Ottawa G Anders Nilsson was 1-1-0 with a .929 save percentage in two matchups against the Lightning this season while with Vancouver.

3. The Lightning have killed off 27-of-28 power plays in the last eight games and are second in the league (85.8 percent) after finishing 28th last season.

PREDICTION: Lightning 5, Senators 2