The Ottawa Senators were walking on sunshine in their season opener on Thursday night.

Ottawa centre Shane Pinto’s second of the game with only 1:47 left in the third period gave the club a late lead as the Senators scored a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Benchmark International Arena.

Defenceman Jake Sanderson, who had two assists, did a good job going to the net to set up Pinto for his second of the night, but a late goal by the Bolts meant that an empty-netter by Claude Giroux turned out to be the winner.

“It’s tough going on the road for their home opener and beating them, but it was a good game by us,” said Sanderson.

The Senators battled back from a two-goal deficit to tie it up 3-3, and it’s the first time in franchise history the club has come back from a multi-goal deficit to win a season opener.

Captain Brady Tkachuk and Pinto posted three-point efforts while blueliner Artem Zub had a two-point night, and Dylan Cozens also chipped in with a goal.

This was the first time in the 33-year history of the franchise that the Senators faced their expansion cousins from Tampa to open the season. Both came into the NHL to start the 1992-93 campaign.

This game had everything: A comeback by the Senators in the second period, highlight reel goals on both sides and even some fisticuffs in the first period.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Game No. 1, No. 40 or No. 82; it’s a positive sign with the maturity we have in the group,” said Tkachuk. “All the guys care about is winning, so we have to continue to persevere and be resilient. I’m happy that was the result in Game 1.”

TIMELY SCORING

Much has been made of the club’s inability to score in 5-on-5 situations. The club scored four goals at even strength in this one.

Pinto brought the Senators from a two-goal deficit when Zub threaded the needle with a pass through the middle of the ice and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy through the five-hole.

That tied it up 3-3 at 15:09 of the second.

“That was a good team win,” said Pinto. “That first period was a little hairy for us, but we stuck to it. That’s just a good way to start the year, but it means nothing now, onto the next one.”

Zub pulled the Senators to within a goal in only 42 seconds by throwing a puck at the net that bounced off the post and then hit Vasilevskiy in the back of the pads as it went into the net.

It was Zub’s first goal in 36 games, and that’s what you need.

Cozens scored the club’s first goal of the season on the power play at 10:18 of the first. He fired a blast from the point that Vasilevskiy had no chance of stopping to cut the gap to 2-1.

That was a good start for the Senators, who led the league in goals with the man-advantage last season.

“There are a lot of threats out there,” Cozens told TSN’s Gord Miller after the first. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot the puck and put it in the back of the net. We’ve just got to put it on the net.”

The Senators thought they had opened the scoring at 3:45 of the first, but the officials ruled that Pinto battled it in with a high stick. A look at the replays confirmed no goal.

NOT SO SPECIAL

The Senators have to clean up their act on the penalty kill.

One way to do that is to stay out of the box, but that’s impossible, so the best bet is to do a better job when the club is shorthanded.

The Bolts were 2-for-2 on the power play in the first. Nikita Kucherov extended Tampa’s lead back to two goals by firing a blast by Ullmark at 14:46 of the period to give Tampa a 3-1 advantage.

The Senators were ranked 22nd on the penalty kill on the road last season, and 19th overall in the NHL. That is a trend that has to change to return to the playoffs.

“I liked our kill later in the game, we were a lot more aggressive,” said coach Travis Green.

The Senators weren’t able to weather the storm from the Bolts in the first period..The club found itself back on its heels and down 2-0 in a span of 1:25 in the first.

Tampa’s Brayden Point ripped a shot from the right circle by Ullmark on the stick side seven minutes into the game. That shot may have changed direction after deflecting off Nikolas Matinpalo.

The Bolts opened the scoring on the power play when Oliver Bjorkstrand tapped in a pass from Jake Guentzel on the doorstep by Ullmark on the stick side at 5:35.

NET GAIN

Linus Ullmark has gotten a huge raise this season with his four-year, $33-million extension kicking in. He finished with a 25-14-3 record with a 2.72 goals-against average and a 2.72 goals-against average and .910 save percentage

He has to carry the ball this season. Ullmark gave up goals on back-to-back shots in the first. He tightened up after giving up three goals early and made some big stops. Ullmark proved to be reliable last season, and that has to be the case this year.

He wasn’t great on the third goal by the Bolts because he was too deep in his net. But the Senators did a better job in front of him by limiting the chances. The Bolts went 25 minutes through parts of the second and third with only one shot.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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