Some day in the not-too-distant-future, the NHL is going to expand the number of teams in the league. When that day comes, and realignment is finalized, hopefully the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals end up in the same division. These two teams always seem to put forth an entertaining match, and Saturday night’s affair was no different as Brandon Hagel’s third period goal proved to be the difference in the Lightning’s 3-2 victory.
For Hagel, who, if he didn’t have bad luck to begin the season, would have had no luck at all, it was his seventh goal in seven games. He has been the standard bearer for the Lightning, who picked up their seventh win in eight games, and are back to finding ways to win games instead of giving them away. Emil Lilleberg netted his first goal of the season and Jake Guentzel scored on the power play to provide the other goals for the Bolts while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28-of-30 shots.
It wasn’t a complete run of fun for the Bolts as the already short-handed team (Anthony Cirelli and Max Crozier missed the game due to injuries and are considered day-to-day) lost Ryan McDonagh in the first period after he blocked an Ethan Frank shot with the outside of his left ankle/foot. Dominic James, who has provided a spark since his call-up, missed a few shifts after Ryan Leonard’s shot clipped him in the face.
The Lightning pulled through in a game that grew in its intensity as the night went on. Tom Wilson was his usual provocative self while Yanni Gourde was more than happy to match his verbal output between the whistles. Tempers flared late in the second period when Wilson dumped Hagel into Washington netminder, Logan Thompson. Wilson was tackled from behind by Jack Finley, playing in his first game after being scratched for the last eight.
The two would have words throughout the night, and Gourde was actively involved as well. It even got to the point where, after Wilson hit Zemgus Girgensons along the boards in the third period, Victor Hedman took umbrage and delivered a gloved push to his face. The game ended with Erik Cernak and Jacob Chychrun throwing hands. The two teams will meet again in Washington at the end of the month. It should be a fun one.
While there were moments of free-flowing hockey, the game was a lot tighter than some of the ones the Lightning played on the road trip. The offensive chances just were there for much of the night, but the Bolts took advantage when they had them. Lilleberg’s goal came off a nice rush through the neutral zone that pushed the Washington defense back. Jake Guentzel spied Lilleberg, who had jumped up on the rush, in the slot, and the defensemen’s scuffed shot fooled Thompson a bit.
The rejuvenated power play scored it’s third goal in the last two games, and it was a simple play. Victor Hedman had the puck at the top of the circles and he let it go. Jake Guentzel got credit for the goal when it glanced off his pads and into the net. For Hedman it was his 12th assist in 15 games, 6 of which have come with the extra skater.
On the other side, Washington’s goals were a bit more unconventional. Brandon Duhaime opened the scoring with a shot from behind the goal line. The Caps moved the puck behind the net, and Vasilevskiy was slow to get to the near post, which gave Duhaime an opportunity to bank it off of him and into the net. John Carlson tied the game late in the second period when he let a shot go from distance that Vasy thought he had squeezed off, but the puck leaked behind him. Cernak got his stick on the puck before it crossed the goal line, but he inadvertently knocked it into the net with his next touch.
Outside of that, Vasilevskiy was outstanding. He made a stop on Alex Ovechkin at point-blank range, and stopped Wilson on a breakaway. Washington generated seven high-danger shots, and he stopped them all. He made his biggest stops at the end of the game with a desperate Washington team swarming the net despite being short-handed. He stopped back-to-back chances from Aliaksai Protas and Ovechkin before Nikita Kucherov seemingly sealed the game with an empty-net goal.
Unfortunately, there was a few more moments of stress for the hometown faithful as the goal was overturned once it was determined Kucherov was off-side. The Lightning didn’t fold, and held on for the victory. They earned a few days off and won’t be back in action until next Wednesday when the New York Rangers come to town.
