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Washington Capitals: Top 5 Moments of the 2018-19 Season

By Michael Marzzacco

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 03: Alex Ovechkin #8, Nicklas Backstrom #19, and Brooks Orpik #44 of the Washington Capitals watch the 2018 Stanley Cup Championship banner rise to the rafters before playing against the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena on October 3, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 03: Alex Ovechkin #8, Nicklas Backstrom #19, and Brooks Orpik #44 of the Washington Capitals watch the 2018 Stanley Cup Championship banner rise to the rafters before playing against the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena on October 3, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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TAMPA, FL – MARCH 30: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his 50th goal of the season with teammates and against goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy #88 of the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on March 30, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL – MARCH 30: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his 50th goal of the season with teammates and against goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy #88 of the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on March 30, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The third time was the charm for the Washington Capitals when they went head-to-head with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third time in the regular season.

These two foes played a thrilling seven-game Eastern Conference Finals series the year before so naturally, these three games would be circled on the calendar.

The Capitals dropped the first meeting on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day 6-3 in Tampa. They would meet in D.C. four days later in a very memorable game despite the Capitals coming up short.

There was a combined six goals in the second period but four were from Tampa which gave them a 4-3 lead in the third before Evgeny Kuznetsov forced overtime with a goal with 53 seconds left. Victor Hedman won it in overtime.

They met one more time 10 days later with the Capitals earning a 6-3 win. The Capitals scored three in the first period with a goal from Nicklas Backstrom and two from T.J. Oshie. Backstrom added his second of the game in the middle period and Alex Ovechkin scored twice to reach 50 goals on the season in the third period to cap off the win.

Braden Holtby stoped 25 of the 28 shots he faced for a .893 save percentage. Sadly no conference final rematch.

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