Pinto's late goal lifts Senators past Lightning

TAMPA -- Shane Pinto scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 1:47 remaining, to lift the Ottawa Senators to a 5-4 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning from Benchmark International Arena on Thursday.

Pinto punched a loose puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy off a rebound after Jake Sanderson made a strong move to the net to put the Senators ahead 4-3.

"Obviously 'Sandy' is a very gifted player, he's going to beat guys one-on-one," Pinto said. "So just go to the net and good things happen."

Pinto also had an assist, Brady Tkachuk had three assists, and Artem Zub had a goal and two assists for the Senators, who scored four unanswered goals in their season opener. Linus Ullmark made 21 saves.

"It was a good team win," Pinto said. "That first period was a little hairy for us, but we stuck to it. It's a good way to start the year. On to the next one."

Nikita Kucherov scored twice, and Brayden Point had a goal and two assists for the Lightning in their season opener. Vasilevskiy made 29 saves.

"When you score three in the first period, it shouldn't have to be a game where you need five to get a point," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "That shouldn't happen. That's the disappointing part."

The Lightning took a 1-0 lead at 5:35 of the first period when Oliver Bjorkstrand scored on the power play, a chip in from the slot off a pass by Jake Guentzel.

Point extended the lead to 2-0 when he scored off a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Ullmark to the far post at 7:00.

Ottawa cut the lead to 2-1 at 10:18 with a power-play goal from Dylan Cozens. He sent a one-timer from just outside the circle past Vasilevskiy off a feed from Tkachuk.

Kucherov pushed the Tampa Bay lead to 3-1 at 14:46 with a power-play goal, a wrist shot on the glove side.

"It's hard not to be disappointed when you have a 3-1 lead and let it slip away," Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "The other team hung and we let them back in it. Then you leave it up to chance or one mistake and we got caught making one too many tonight. We should win a lot of games when we score four goals."

Zub made it 3-2 with a goal 42 seconds into the second period. He sent a shot from the right point that caught the inside of the left post and went in after hitting Vasilevskiy.

"Artem had a great game, he was moving his feet, shooting the puck," Sanderson said. "He's one of the best defensive defensemen in the League. I'm really lucky to play with him. If there's a breakdown you know he's going to be there. He's so strong in the corners it allows me to jump up and make plays. I think we're a good tandem."

Pinto tied the game 3-3 at 15:09 when he scored on a breakaway.

Claude Giroux made it 5-3 with an empty-net goal at 19:12.

"I think the maturity that we played with really showed," Senators captain Tkachuk said. "I think there were times in the past where we would try to make a play at all costs. We're down 3-1 and we need to score, score, score, but at the end we just need to play our game. I thought we did that. We trusted the process and trusted each other."

Kucherov scored his second goal at 19:47 when he threw a puck at the net from the right circle that deflected in off Ottawa defenseman Nick Jensen.

"I think, the first period, if you take away the power-play goals, we had a pretty good period," Senators coach Travis Green said. "Their goalie made some nice saves. Probably a pretty even game and we just had to stick with it."

NOTES: Zub (1-2-3) became the second Senators defenseman to record three points in a season opener, following Erik Karlsson (Oct. 12, 2016 & Jan. 19, 2013). ... Tkachuk (0-3-3) became the first Senators player to post three assists in a season opener. He also became the second Senators skater to post three points in multiple season-opening games (also 2021-22), following Karlsson (2016-17 & 2012-13). ... Kucherov is four points away (996) from 1,000 in his NHL career (359 goals, 637 assists).