Tarasenko gets 1st goal for Senators in win against Lightning

OTTAWA -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored his first goal for the Ottawa Senators and had an assist in a 5-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.

“Winning is exciting,” said Tarasenko, who signed a one-year contract with Ottawa on July 27. “We had a lot of talks before the season. When you win, everything is different. Like, the mood is different, you know? The atmosphere and confidence level.”

Brady Tkachuk scored twice for the second straight game and had an assist for the Senators (2-1-0), who were coming off a 5-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves for his first win with the Senators since signing a five-year contract on July 1.

“Two games of playing our type of hockey,” Tkachuk said. “That’s just been our goal. We don’t care about wins or losses, it’s just how quickly we get to our game. I think we’ve shown that we’re starting to find it now, and I think we’re going to keep building on it.

“There were definitely those years where they were putting up an automatic 40 (shots) on us and the goalies had to stand on their heads. That’s always been our goal, to limit the chances for [Korpisalo] and [Anton Forsberg], and I think we’re starting to do that.”

Tanner Jeannot had a goal and an assist, and Matt Tomkins made 33 saves in his NHL debut for the Lightning (1-2-0), who were coming off a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos missed the game and is day to day with a lower-body injury.

“[Tomkins] was unbelievable,” Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli said. “From the first puck drop he made huge saves and kept us in that game the whole game. Huge credit to him the way he came in here, and he made saves and played really well.”

Tarasenko gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 7:02 of the first period, receiving a between-the-legs pass from Ridly Greig and beating Tomkins five-hole.

“There’s always pressure,” Tarasenko said. “When a new season begins, you try to score. It’s my first season and I’m starting with a new team. All my family came a few days ago, so it’s a big moment, I’m not going to lie.”

Cirelli tied it 1-1 at 1:00 of the second with a backhand deke in tight off a tic-tac-toe passing play.

Tkachuk put the Senators back in front 2-1 at 8:48 when he collected his own rebound off a blocked shot by Tampa Bay defenseman Darren Raddysh and scored five-hole on Tomkins.

“We just need a little bit more production and we just can't be giving up, you know, four [goals] a night,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It's not a recipe for a win. Our goaltenders have been great. I thought, ‘That kind of [stinks] for Tom.’ You know, his NHL debut and I thought he did great. He gave us a chance. We needed a couple more goals and just couldn’t get them.”

Jeannot tied it 2-2 at 13:00, shooting into an open net off Michael Eyssimont’s redirection.

Mathieu Joseph again answered for Ottawa to make it 3-2 at 19:01, using a curl-and-drag move to set up a wrist shot from the left slot beat Tomkins over his glove.

Tkachuk extended the lead to 4-2 at 12:53 of the third period when he beat Raddysh wide on a rush before sliding the puck five-hole.

“I think he understands winning hockey,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said of Tkachuk. "But there’s lots of guys in there that are helping him.”

Stutzle scored into an empty net for the 5-2 final at 17:17.

“We’ve been beaten up a lot as a group,” Smith said. “As young guys, they were developing and we took a lot of lickings. A lot of these teams handed them out to us. They know how hard it is to try and beat these good players, so I think we respect the fact that it takes the chip and chase, just winning an inch here, an inch there. It’s good to see.”

NOTES: Tarasenko (one goal, three assists) joined Tkachuk (two goals, three assists), Max Lajoie (three goals, two assists) and Alexandre Daigle (four assists) as the only players to record multiple points in each of his first two home games with the Senators. ... Tkachuk became the first player in Senators history to score multiple goals in each of the first two home games of a season. He is also the second player in team history to score multiple goals on consecutive days, (Dany Heatley, Dec. 12-13, 2007). ... Cooper coached his 800th game for the Lightning. ... Tampa Bay forward Austin Watson had three hits in 8:01 of ice time in his return to Ottawa. He played 176 games for the Senators from 2020-2023.