BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Ottawa enjoyed a five-goal first-period surge in cruising to a 6-2 victory over Buffalo on Wednesday night.
Artem Zub opened the scoring 2:37 in an outing the Senators led 4-0 by the 8:49 mark of the opening period, and Pinto closed the scoring with an empty-net goal. Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and assist.
Joonas Korpisalo had 34 saves to improve to 5-1 in his past six starts.
JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for Buffalo in a matchup of two Atlantic Division teams all but mathematically out of playoff contention.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was yanked after allowing four goals on nine shots. Devon Levi mopped up in allowing one goal on 32 shots.
LIGHTNING 3, BRUINS 1
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point scored his 42nd goal of the season to break a second-period tie, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves, and surging Tampa Bay beat Atlantic Division-leading Boston.
Tampa Bay also got goals from Mitchell Chaffee and Nikita Kucherov as the Lightning improved to 7-0-1 over their last eight games. The Lightning moved within two points of third-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division.
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and Point both returned after missing one game with lower-body injuries.
Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots, and Danton Heinen scored for the Bruins. Boston was coming off a 4-3 win Tuesday night at Florida.
Point put the Lightning up 2-1 on a wraparound 6:50 into the second. The center has 10 goals over his last seven games.
The Associated Press