Sometimes, the difference between making or missing the playoffs isn’t just about how many wins but who those wins are against.

The Tampa Bay Lightning ended a five-game homestand with a 5-1 Atlantic Division win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. A power-play goal gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes of hockey.

BOLTS 5, SENATORS 1 It turns out lightning does strike twice and that’s bad news for the Ottawa Senators. The Senators had a chance to make a statement as they wrapped up this two-game series, but ...

TAMPA — The Lightning knew the importance of Tuesday’s game against the Senators, the first of ... a loose puck in front and batted it past Andrei Vasilevskiy with 5:51 left in the period.

Tampa Bay moved into a tie with Ottawa for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Lightning beat the Senators 4-3 on Tuesday night.

The Lightning gutted out a crucial win in regulation, a victory that brought them two points closer to the Ottawa Senators ... the Lightning on the goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy made a stick save ...

Luke Glendening, Nikita Kucherov and Ryan McDonagh also scored for Tampa Bay while Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 25 saves. Michael Amadio, Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson scored for Ottawa.

The Lightning beat the Senators 4-3 on Tuesday ... Cernak also scored for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves. Michael Amadio scored for Ottawa, and Anton Forsberg stopped 26 shots.

Luke Glendening, Nikita Kucherov and Ryan McDonagh also scored for Tampa Bay while Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 25 saves. Michael Amadio, Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson scored for Ottawa.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-1 victory against the Seattle Kraken ...