Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Eventually, the Tampa Bay Lightning got around to winning Tuesday night.
First, however, they had to get out of their own way.
The Bolts won a back-and-forth game against the Ottawa Senators, 4-3, for their fifth win in six games. But before they could beat the Senators, they had to stop beating themselves.
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Consider:
-- The Bolts gave up two goals on turnovers near their own net.
-- They gave up a shorthanded goal with a five-on-three advantage to former Bolt Mathieu .
-- They failed to score on seven of their eight power plays.
-- The game ended with Steven Stamkos' wayward pass setting up a breakaway opportunity to Brady Tkachuk, who shot wide.
-- And so forth.
The Bolts did play well enough to move to 6-4 on the season. They got off 34 shots (to 15 for Ottawa), and scored three times in the final period to win. Nikita Kucherov, on an eight-game point streak, scored the winning goal with 2:30 to play.
"I thought our power play was a little embarrassing, to be honest," said Brayden Point, who tied the game with 7:05 left.
Stamkos' final mistake came as the Bolts were trying to score an empty net goal.
"I thought the game was over," Stamkos said. "He (Tkachuk) thought the game was over, too. He was just standing at the blue line. If that had gone in, it would have summed up that game. Just a weird one. A weird ending to be sure."
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper didn't quite know what he had seen, but he used the words "wild" and "wacky."
The Bolts play next against Carolina Thursday night at 7:10 p.m. at Amalie Arena.
