Washington Capitals (42-22-7 91pts) v. Tampa Bay Lightning (54-13-4 112pts)
Game Recap:
The Washington Capitals head to Tampa Bay for the first time since eliminating the Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, however, it would be Lighting getting some early revenge as the would work a turnover into an odd man advantage to give Tyler Johnson his 26th goal of the season. Then less than two minutes later, Alex Killorn would score to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead, but the Capitals would respond as they would get a lucky bounce resulting in a John Carlson bomb to cut Tampa’s lead to one. However, Killorn would force his way to the net through Nick Jensen, and then get his own rebound to net his second of the game and give the Lightning their two goal lead back. To end the period it would be a parade of penalties, but it would be the Lightning getting to start the second period with an abbreviated 5 on 3 powerplay.
The Capitals would start the second period killing off Tampa’s two man advantage, and then on a Nikita Kucherov interference penalty it would be Alex Ovechkin netting his 47th of the season on the powerplay to cut Tampa’s lead to one again.
To start the third period the Lightning would kill the Capitals remaining powerplay time then on a weak goal it would be Erik Cernak scoring his 4th of the season to give Tampa a 4-2 lead. However, later in the period Alex Oveckin would net his second of the game to bring the Capitals back within one. But it would not be enough for the Capitals as Tampa would get a pair of empty net goals from Killorn and Yanni Gourde to ice this game for the Lightning 6-3.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly
Andre Burakovsky — Chandler Stephenson — Travis Boyd
Michal Kempny — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik — Nick Jensen
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Christian Djoos, Dmitrij Jaskin, Nic Dowd
Tampa Bay Lightning:
Ondrej Palat — Steven Stamkos — J.T. Miller
Tyler Johnson — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn — Anthony Cirelli — Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne — Cedric Paquette — Yanni Gourde
Victor Hedman — Mikhail Sergachev
Ryan McDonagh — Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn — Jan Rutta
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched: Ryan Callahan, Danick Martel
Injured: Dan Girardi (lower body), Anton Stralman (lower body)
First Period:
Lightning Goal – 8:35 – Tyler Johnson (26) from Brayden Point (49) and Nikita Kucherov (81)
Lightning Goal – 10:33 – Alex Killorn (14) from unassisted
Capitals Goal – 12:06 – John Carlson (12) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (45)
Lightning Goal – 15:56 – Alex Killorn (15) from Anthony Cirelli (17) and Mathieu Joseph (10)
Lightning Penalty – 17:13 – Ondrej Palat 2 minutes for High Sticking
Capitals Penalty – 18:41 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Hooking
Capitals Penalty – 18:53 – Brett Connolly 2 minutes for Holding
End of 1st – WAS – 1 TB – 3
Shots 09 16
Faceoffs 08 16
Hits 09 14
PP 0/1 0/0
Second Period:
Lightning Penalty – 5:59 – Nikita Kucherov 2 minutes for Interference
Capitals PPG – 7:33 – Alex Ovechkin (47) from TJ Oshie (24) and John Carlson (52)
Capitals Penalty – 14:42 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Slashing
Lightning Penalty – 18:49 – Ryan McDonagh 2 minutes for Roughing
End of 2nd – WAS- 2 TB- 3
Shots 22 21
Faceoffs 14 26
Hits 14 28
PP 1/2 0/3
Third Period:
Lightning Goal – 2:45 – Erik Cernak (4) from Ondrej Palat (23) and Ryan McDonagh (29)
Capitals Penalty – 4:10 – Matt Niskanen 2 minutes for Holding
Capitals Goal – 12:56 – Alex Ovechkin (48) from Dmitry Orlov (23) and Brett Connolly (21)
Lightning Penalty – 14:22 – Ondrej Palat 2 minutes for Tripping
Lightning ENG – 19:13 – Alex Killorn (16) from Nikita Kucherov (82)
Lightning Penalty – 19:46 – Erik Cernak for Misconduct
Capitals Penalty – 19:46 – Tom Wilson for Misconduct
Lightning ENG – 19:58 – Yanni Gourde (19) from unassisted
End of 3rd – WAS – 3 TB – 6
Shots 33 35
Faceoffs 20 37
Hits 23 33
PP 1/4 0/4
Next Up:
Washington (42-23-7 91pts) @ New Jersey (27-36-9 63pts)
Tampa Bay (55-13-4 114pts) v. Arizona (36-30-5 77pts)
