The virtual Caps have bounced back thanks to Evgeny Kuznetsov.
The virtual Washington Capitals blew a 3-1 lead in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning but Evgeny Kuznetsov saved the night with an overtime goal.
Thanks to that heroic effort, the virtual Caps have now won three straight games after dropping the first two games of the series with a chance to close it out in D.C.
The Caps were outshot 10-6 in the opening period but Braden Holtby stood tall to stop all 10 in his path. At 3:27, T.J. Oshie ripped in a shot from right up the middle to put the Caps up 1-0 which would be the score after one. For Oshie, that was his seventh goal of the playoffs while Alex Ovechkin had the assist.
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In the second period, the Caps doubled their lead before the Bolts got on the board. At 9:13 Ilya Kovalchuk ripped in a slap shot from just outside the right face-off circle for his second goal of the playoffs.
Ondrej Palat got the Lightning on the board at 14:15 with Mikhail Sergachev and Tyler Johnson providing the helpers. 2-1 Washington was the score after two periods. The Caps outshot the Lightning 9-6 in the second period.
38 seconds into the third period a snap shot from the high slot by Evgeny Kuznetsov went in to make it 3-1. You would think it would be a good cushion to help set things up for a 3-2 series lead for the Caps. The Bolts, however, refused to go down in front of their home crowd.
Kevin Shattenkirk cut the deficit to one off a feed from Brayden Point. Then Luke Schenn won a fight over Nick Jensen to wake the crowd back up even more. At 16:15, Brayden Coburn tied it to force overtime.
The Caps luckily got a power play opportunity 30 seconds into the extra session and at 1:44 Kuznetsov added his second goal of the night to give the Caps the win. Kuznetsov handled the puck between his legs to fake out Andrei Vasilevskiy before firing it in forehanded. Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom had the helpers.
Can the virtual Caps close out the series on home ice in Game 6? Check back tomorrow to find out!