Washington Capitals (46-24-8 100pts) v. Tampa Bay Lightning (59-14-4 122pts)
Game Recap:
In their final meeting of the regular season the Washington Capitals head down to Tampa Bay with hopes of grounding the League leading Lightning. Early in the game it would be the Capitals gaining the advantage as Tom Wilson would feed Nicklas Backstrom for his 20th of the season to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Then TJ Oshie would net a pair goals both at even strength and on the powerplay to give the Capitals a 3-0 lead going into the first intermission.
In the second period the Capitals would continue their strong play as Dmitry Orlov would put forth a strong individual effort to feed Backstrom for his second goal of the game to grow the Capitals lead to four. However, in the final minutes of the second period, JT Miller would tip in a Mikhail Sergachev point shot to cut the Capitals lead to three going into the second intermission.
In the third period the Lightning would cut the Capitals lead to two when Tyler Johnson would net his 28th of the season. After that the fireworks would explode as Brooks Orpik and Anthony Cirelli would drop the gloves followed by a heavyweight tilt between Tom Wilson and Erik Cernak. Then the “Great Eight” Alex Ovechkin would score his 50th of the season, and then on a Nikita Kucherov penalty, Ovechkin would net his 51st of the season to give the Capitals a commanding 6-2 lead. However, in the final minute Nic Dowd would take a penalty for hooking and Kucherov would score to cut the Capitals lead to three, but it would be too little too late for the Lightning as the Capitals would go on to win 6 to 3.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin — Lars Eller — Andre Burakovsky
Travis Boyd — Nic Dowd — Chandler Stephenson
Matt Niskanen — Dmitry Orlov
Christian Djoos — John Carlson
Nick Jensen — Brooks Orpik
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Dmitrij Jaskin, Jonas Siegenthaler
Injured: Brett Connolly (illness), Michal Kempny (lower body)
Tampa Bay Lightning:
Tyler Johnson — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat — Steven Stamkos — J.T. Miller
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: Cameron Gaunce, Ryan Callahan, Danick Martel
Injured: Anton Stralman (lower body), Dan Girardi (lower body)
First Period:
Lightning Penalty – :21 – Andrei Vasilevskiy (Yanni Gourde) 2 minutes for Tripping
Capitals Goal – 7:24 – Nicklas Backstrom (20) from Tom Wilson (18) and Christian Djoos (9)
Capitals Goal – 10:45 – TJ Oshie (24) from Nick Jensen (18) Carl Hagelin (13)
Lightning Penalty – 14:12 – Anthony Cirelli 2 minutes for High Sticking
Capitals PPG – 16:00 – TJ Oshie (25) from John Carlson (55) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (50)
End of 1st – WAS – 3 TB – 0
Shots 13 05
Faceoffs 08 09
Hits 08 05
PP 1/2 0/0
Second Period:
Capitals Goal – 7:53 – Nicklas Backstrom (21) from Dmitry Orlov (26)
Lightning Penalty – 9:31 – Braydon Coburn 2 minutes for Boarding
Capitals Penalty – 13:44 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for High Sticking
Lightning Goal – 17:25 – JT Miller (13) from Mikhail Sergachev (23) and Ryan McDonagh (34)
End of 2nd – WAS – 4 TB – 1
Shots 27 14
Faceoffs 18 14
Hits 13 13
PP 1/3 0/1
Third Period:
Lightning Penalty – :47 – Mikhail Sergachev 2 minutes for High Sticking
Lightning Goal – 3:36 – Tyler Johnson (28) from unassisted
Lightning Penalty – 9:26 – Anthony Cirelli 5 minute major for Fighting
Capitals Penalty – 9:26 – Brooks Orpik 5 minute major for Fighting
Capitals Penalty – 9:26 – Brooks Orpik (Alex Ovechkin) 2 minutes for Roughing
Lightning Penalty -12:13 – Erik Cernak 5 minute major for Fighting
Capitals Penalty – 12:13 – Tom Wilson 5 minute major for Fighting
Capitals Goal – 14:35 – Alex Ovechkin (50) from TJ Oshie (27) and Nicklas Backstrom (52)
Lightning Penalty – 15:30 – Nikita Kucherov 2 minutes for Tripping
Capitals PPG – 16:15 – Alex Ovechkin (51) from Johm Carlson (56) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (51)
Capitals Penalty – 19:14 – Nic Dowd 2 minutes for Hooking
Lightning PPG – 19:32 – Nikita Kucherov (39) from Mikhail Sergachev (24) and JT Miller (32)
End of 3rd – WAS – 6 TB – 2
Shots 35 28
Faceoffs 33 28
Hits 18 22
PP 2/5 0/3
Next Up:
Washington (47-24-8 102pts) @ Florida (35-32-12 82pts)
Tampa Bay (59-15-4 122pts) @ Ottawa (28-44-6 62pts)
