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As they prepare to face the Ottawa Senators for the final time in the regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning are doing everything they can to make sure Thursday night is not a final visit to Canada’s capital.

Earning points in eight of their past 10 matches (7-2-1), the Lightning (44-25-5, 93 points) have jelled on offense and defense as the 82-game slate winds down.

Against the Senators (39-29-6, 84 points), who grid into the No. 1 wild-card spot, coach Jon Cooper’s club is 2-1-0 with the only setback taking place in a 5-4 loss on Oct. 19 in Ottawa.

Two months ago, shortly before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, Tampa Bay recorded victories in a rare playoff-style, two-game series in Florida, winning 4-3 and 5-1.

The wins had a first-round playoff feel to them: Two games on the same sheet of ice over three days with an off day in between.

That may happen again in an actual postseason environment.

With eight matches left, the second-place Lightning are the hottest of the three Atlantic Division teams pursuing the division’s top spot.

The three-time Stanley Cup champions trail the Toronto Maple Leafs by one point and lead the Florida Panthers by one in the Atlantic Division.

“It gets tough down the stretch when you’re battling for position,” Cooper said after his group won 4-1 at the New York Islanders on Tuesday. “You don’t want to roll into the playoffs with your ‘B’ game going. You want to have your A game and want everybody to be on the same page.

“We’re in a battle ourselves. Ultimately, we’re not in a playoff spot yet. Depending on how things go, if you have a chance to get home ice, you’d like to get it.”

If the Lightning capture the Atlantic and Ottawa stays put, they would have home ice against the Senators in the first round of the playoffs.

Right winger Nikita Kucherov had two assists in the win in Elmont, N.Y., extending his point streak to nine games (five goals, 14 helpers), while Jake Guentzel’s 38th tally tied Brayden Point for the team high.

Ottawa is reeling a bit after another bad but not unexpected loss on Tuesday, suffering a 5-2 setback to the Buffalo Sabres to open a four-game homestand.

At the time sitting in last place in the Eastern Conference, the Sabres blitzed the home side for three goals near the match’s midpoint and went on to their fifth win in six matches (5-1-0).

The win also allowed Buffalo to climb out of the East’s cellar, leapfrogging the floundering Boston Bruins, who have lost nine straight, and, strangely, sweep the four-game season series with the Senators.

The Sabres outscored Ottawa 17-5 this season.

“I think if you’re going to criticize the first period, it’s easy to say no urgency,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said after his club went scoreless over three power plays in the frame. “You get three power plays, you hope to get one. They got a little momentum off their kill.”

Ottawa played without Brady Tkachuk (upper body) after the captain was hurt in Sunday’s 1-0 overtime loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Forward Drake Batherson was minus-5 against Buffalo, and the Senators lost again to goaltender James Reimer, who is an NHL all-time-best 19-6-4 in his career against them.

–Field Level Media