Washington Capitals Dominate Lightning as Three Players Score Two Goals Each

The Washington Capitals knew that teamwork is the biggest key to defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning and in their 6-3 win, three players scored two goals each.

The Washington Capitals exacted revenge over their Eastern Conference foes, earning their first win in three tries in the 2018-19 regular season. The Lightning won the first meeting two weeks ago in Tampa as well as the second game in overtime back in the District. The victory kept the Capitals on the driver’s seat of the Metropolitan Division.

The New York Islanders defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 which made Washington’s (47-24-8, 102 points) win even more important as they maintain a three-point lead for first place. There’s three games left to go in the regular season and the Capitals need to win two of them.

The Capitals got a pair of goals from three different players in the victory: Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie and Alex Ovechkin. First it was Backstrom on a 3-on-2 rush taking a pass from Christian Djoos then passing it to Tom Wilson. Wilson came down the ice and fed Backstrom a perfect pass from down near behind the net for Backstrom to bury to join the 20-goal club. This was Backstrom’s fourth straight season with at least 20 goals and 50 assists. The goal came at 7:24 in the first to put the Capitals ahead 1-0.

The Capitals extended their lead to 2-0 at 10:45 when Oshie rebounded in a shot from Nick Jensen. Carl Hagelin was also credited with an assist. After Jensen’s shot was stopped by the pads of Andrei Vasilevskiy, who’s had success against the Capitals in the past, Oshie rebounded the puck and backhanded it in.

The Capitals struck one more time before the first period ended on their second power play attempt which came at 14:12 when Yanni Gourde high-sticked Oshie. On the attack, Evgeny Kuznetsov found John Carlson. After Carlson shot the puck, Oshie was there to deflect it in with four minutes to go to put the Capitals up 3-0. The two goals were Oshie’s 24th and 25th of the season, he is second on the Capitals in goals. 3-0 would be the score after one and the Washington outshot Tampa Bay 13-5.

The Capitals extended their lead to 4-0 at 7:53 in the second when Backstrom scored his second goal of the game to become the newest member of the Capitals 20-goal club. Backstrom is now one of seven players with 20 goals on the Capitals and it marks the fifth time in franchise history the team has skated seven players with at least 20 goals. Chandler Stephenson dished the puck to Backstrom, then to Dmitry Orlov. Orlov glided down the ice and placed a perfect pass to Backstrom for the finish.

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The Lightning got on the board with a tally from J.T. Miller at 17:25. The Capitals would take a 4-1 lead into the second intermission and they outshot the Lightning again in the second period 15-9. The Lightning cut the deficit in half at 3:36 in the third period with a goal from Tyler Johnson. The Capitals would get a big response from their captain.

Alex Ovechkin notched his 50th goal of the season at 14:35 to put the Capitals up 5-2. It’s been eight times in Ovechkin’s career that he’s reached the 50-goal mark and is one of just three players in NHL history to record 50 goals at least eight times. All Ovechkin needs is one more 50-goal season to tie Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy with nine 50-goal seasons. Ovechkin was crashing the net. Backstrom gave Oshie a pass who found Ovechkin on the charge.

The Capitals cashed in on a power play chance after Nikita Kucherov tripped Kuznetsov at 15:30. Kuznetsov fed Carlson, who found Ovechkin for the one-time blast just above the office to put the Capitals ahead 6-2.

This was Ovechkin’s 132nd multi-goal game. He also scored his 247th power play goal to pass Phil Esposito for sole possession of fifth and tie Luc Robitaille for fourth on the NHL’s all-time list. After the game Ovechkin posed with Backstrom and Oshie with the game puck from his 50th goal.

Kucherov scored on the power play with 28 seconds left but it was too little too late as the Capitals salvaged the final game of the three-game regular season series with the Lightning, a final of 6-3. Braden Holtby stopped 25-of-28 shots for a .893 save percentage in the win. The Capitals outshot the Lightning 35-28 and had the edge in face-offs 54%-46%. The Capitals also scored twice on the power play and stopped two of three power play chances from the Lightning.

The Capitals play their final regular season road game on Monday night against the Florida Panthers. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.