Capitals drop another one to Lightning
The Washington Capitals payed uninspiring hockey in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on the road. It dropped the Caps record to 34-33-9 with six games left to play. The Caps are seven points behind the second place wildcard Pittsburgh Penguins and the Caps could get eliminated from playoff contention as early as this weekend.
Alex Killorn scored at 9:20 and Steven Stamkos made it 2-0 at 19:57. That would be the score after one with the Bolts leading in shots 13-8.
In the second the Caps got on the board at 16:10 with Craig Smith’s seventh goal of the season. The assists came from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Rasmus Sandin. The Caps led in shots 10-9 in the second period.
The Caps went with Darcy Kuemper in goal for the second night in a row after dropping Wednesday night’s game at home to the New York Islanders. Pat Maroon scored twice at 4:30 at 16:28. Erik Cernak added a shorthanded goal at 18:06.
The Caps led in shots 13-12 in the third period but the Lightning led 34-31 overall. Kuemper made 29 saves. The Caps tragic number is six points. They could be eliminated by the end of Sunday’s games. It would also include the Penguins beating the Bruins on Saturday.
The bigger thing than the loss itself was the Caps losing T.J. Oshie after the first period due to an upper body injury. The Caps are now 1-4-2 in their last seven games.
Next up the Caps host the New York Rangers Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Every game from here on out is a must win unless you’re mathematically out. Then it’s OK to drop a couple games to improve your draft lottery position.
light. Related Story. Capitals drop shootout to Islanders
Either way this season cannot end soon enough. It was a rough one for the start and minus December to January when the team got hot, it’s only gotten worse.