Washington Capitals fall to Lightning in overtime

In what was expected to be a high scoring affair between the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning, instead we got three total goals in the game. The Capitals would fall short 2-1 in overtime but hey at least Alex Ovechkin scored number 733.

The first period was scoreless with the Caps coming up empty on their lone power play opportunity. They led in shots 10-4 as they did a good job keeping the Bolts from shooting. The Caps also got several shots up. Evgeny Kuznetsov was particularly noticeable throughout the whole game and he should have been rewarded with a point of any kind.

At 18:51 of the second period there was a puck battle near the boards. Ovechkin got the puck and went up the middle to fire it in to give the Caps a 1-0 lead. Trevor van Riemsdyk and Tom Wilson had the helpers. The Caps were outshot 10-8 in the second period but had the 1-0 lead entering the final 20 minutes.

The Lightning tied it at 4:23 from Mikhail Sergachev. The Caps led in shots 12-8 in the third period but it was no doubt Vitek Vanecek had to make save after save with the amount of scoring chances the Bolts had. 1-1 was the score after regulation.

In overtime Steven Stamkos won it with a coast to coast goal from one end of the ice to the other with 15 seconds left. Vanecek made 22 saves on 24 shots.

Even though the Caps lost, talk was everywhere about the hot start Ovechkin is having. Head coach Peter Laviolette said this about the team captain after the game:

"“Really good. He’s certainly moving better. You can tell that he’s had a good summer, good training camp. Everything was just a little bit off last year. Still had a good year…but you can see the jump and this year, just looks like he’s moving better. When you’re moving better, you’re getting in spaces and you’re finding plays. His (two) goals last game that he scored, he’s beating people to the inside and getting inside position, getting his shot off so he looks good.”"

The Caps will look to bounce back on Tuesday night in their first game against a Western Conference opponent since March 1, 2020. They’ll host the Colorado Avalanche in the third and final game of the season opening homestand. They at least got a point from Saturday but they’ll look to get two on Tuesday before hitting the road.