Steven Stamkos Lights Lamp Twice in Lightning Win Over Senators

TAMPA, Fla. — Steven Stamkos had
two power-play goals and an assist to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat
the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Thursday night.

Todd Fedoruk, Ryan Malone and Alex Tanguay also scored for the Lightning, who are 4-0-2 at home.

Stamkos put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0 at
7:20 of the first when his redirection of Vincent Lecavalier's shot
appeared to go into the net off Ottawa defenseman Filip Kuba. The
second-year center gave the Lightning a 4-0 lead at 7:09 of the third
from the low right circle after a nifty stick-handling move.

Ottawa got third-period goals from
Jarkko Ruutu and Alex Kovalev. The Senators were coming off a 4-3 win
Wednesday night at Florida.

Tanguay stopped a personal 12-game goal drought, dating to April 4, just over two minutes after Stamkos' second goal.

Fedoruk made it 2-0 on an in-close
rebound goal at 4:34 of the second. Malone's wraparound goal extended
Tampa Bay's advantage to 3-0 with 5:12 left in the second.

After stopping a shot by Milan
Michalek earlier in the third during a breakaway, Lightning goalie Mike
Smith lost his shutout bid when Ruutu scored with 9:34 remaining.
Kovalev cut the Ottawa deficit to 5-2 later in the period.

Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis played
in his 700th NHL games and extended his franchise-record season-opening
points streak to 10 games (11 assists, 14 points) with an assist. The
NHL record is 51 games, set by Wayne Gretzky during the 1983-84 season.

St. Louis missed the net to the right on a short-handed penalty shot midway through the second.

Notes
Senators D Anton Volchenkov
is expected to miss at least a couple weeks after hurting his right
elbow in Wednesday's game. He was replaced on the roster by D Brian
Lee, who was recalled from Binghamton of the AHL. … Ottawa C Jason
Spezza didn't play due to an upper-body injury. … New Jersey special
assignment coach Pat Burns, who is battling cancer, scouted the game in
preparation for the Devils game at Tampa Bay on Saturday. A regular at
Lightning home games, this was his first game this season.