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The Tampa Bay Lightning did not make any deadline deals, but it doesn’t stop them from rolling on with the positive momentum the club has generated. With their 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night, the Lightning extended their win streak to a season-high seven games, and now take their talents to Ottawa, where they’ll look to make it eight, this time against a beat-up Senators group.
A team they beat up on in a deadline deal. Well, a deadline deal three years ago, of course.
One of the big reasons why the Lightning did not have to make a whopper of a deadline deal, in my opinion, has been the emergence of Ben Bishop as an elite NHL goaltender. In the midst of a career year with the Bolts, it’s crazy to think back on the day the Bolts acquired the 6-foot-7 netminder from the Senators in exchange for Cory Conacher and a draft pick.
Bishop, who stopped 32-of-33 in his last start, a Feb. 28 win over the Bruins, enters play with 26 wins, a 2.06 goals against average, .925 save percentage, and three shutouts to his name in 2015-16. He comes to March following a February headlined by seven wins in 10 games. The 29-year-old has actually won 11-of-16 games and posted a .926 save percentage since the calendar flipped to 2016.
Conacher? Well, the shifty winger would go on to record six goals and 25 points in 72 games over two seasons with the Sens before he was waived. He then bounced to the Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, and Vancouver Canucks organizations before moving to the Swiss league this past season.
All while Bishop has won at least 37 games in his last two seasons, and should come close to making it three in a row depending on how his workload shakes out for the rest of the regular season.
Bishop, of course, gets the start for the Lightning tonight, too, and comes into play with eight wins and zero regulation losses in 12 career head-to-heads with the Senators.
Ottawa counters with Andrew Hammond.
Stats of Note
- Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman has gone six games without a point.
- Lightning winger Alex Killorn has three goals and eight points in his last eight games.
- Captain Steven Stamkos has 13 goals and 26 points in 28 games against Ottawa.
- Ottawa captain Erik Karlsson is just two assists away from matching his single-season high (59).
- Bobby Ryan has three goals and nine points in 15 career games against the Lightning.
Other news and notes
The Bolts will be without Andrej Sustr for tonight’s game. Sustr played just under six minutes in Monday’s win after he ‘jammed’ something. With Jason Garrison back in the mix, the Lightning will not have to worry about rolling with five defenseman (or plugging Brian Boyle back on the blue line). D-man Matt Taormina was also returned back to the minors.
Former Sens forward Erik Condra is expected to draw back into the lineup, too.
Center Scott Gomez, signed by the Sens earlier this week in response to the team shutting Kyle Turris down, will make his debut tonight. Gomez had one goal and eight points in 21 games for the St. Louis Blues this season, and comes to Ottawa with 181 goals and 755 points in 1,066 NHL games.
Goaltender Craig Anderson (lower-body) is out, as well as Clarke MacArthur (concussion).
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.