The Tampa Bay Lightning were expected to make amends after their bitter loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday, but their former forward Mathieu Joseph gave them trouble in Monday night's 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Amalie Arena .
Jon Cooper's men were beaten and shattered at home by their Florida rivals 9-2. It was a great opportunity to put that bad memory behind us against the worst team in the Eastern Association.
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However, Joseph had other plans. The Quebecer scored two goals and found the back of the net in the first and second periods. For his 10th goal of the season, which was the difference in the game, the 27-year-old forward stole the puck from Steven Stamkos before beating Andrei Vasilevskiy with a beautiful feint.
“We won and it’s even more fun to beat these guys,” Joseph admitted in an interview with Sportsnet. I have excellent memories of this amphitheater. I started my career here, so I see some familiar faces. It’s special to come here and it seems like I can always find my legs here.”
After also scoring points in the other two duels against the Lightning this season, Joseph has his best personal tally with 27 points.
“My teammates have been excellent so far,” he said modestly. Some guys had good chemistry. I think my preparation helped too, but I give credit to my teammates for that. You make it easy for me. I try to work hard every night to win my battles. I’ve always thought that if you work hard, you’ll eventually be rewarded.”
Tim Stützle and Vladimir Tarasenko were the other goal scorers for the “Sens”. Mitchell Chaffee and Brayden Point provided the Bolts' response against goaltender Anton Forsberg, who made 25 saves.