There was a moment late in the second period with the game tied at two goals a piece when Steven Stamkos had a wide open net to shoot at with the Tampa Bay Lightning on the power play. It was a tough shot, but one fans are used to seeing him put into the net. Instead it went wide and the game remained tied. The Washington Capitals would end up scoring twice in the third period to take the game, 4-2, and secured two valuable playoff points in their race to make it to the post season.
After a tight checking start to the game, things opened up as the teams went goal-for-goal for seven minutes. The Capitals goals both came off the stick of Sonny Milano and similar plays led to them. On the first one it looked like Darren Raddysh was able to break up a pass from Max Pacioretty, but the puck rolled out of his reach and Milano was there to put it home.
On the second one, Anthony Cirelli’s clearing pass hit a stick and ricocheted directly to Milano who potted his 15th goal of the season. Sandwiched between those tallies was a double-deflection goal for the Lightning as Raddysh’s point shot was tipped by Brayden Point and then hit off of Anthony Duclair’s skate and went into the net.
The Lightning would tie it up shortly after Milano’s second goal as Steven Stamkos and Anthony Cirelli teamed up to win a board battle. They got it to Brandon Hagel in the middle of the ice and he made a solid move to get some space before backhanding a shot under the bar.
The tenor of the game changed with just over 90 seconds left in the period as Mikey Eyssimont hit Nick Jensen at center ice that resulted in the veteran defenseman crashing hard into the boards.
Jensen appeared to be unconscious on the ice as the players scrummed around him. A lot of credit should go to his teammates Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, and TJ Oshie, who prevented the scrum from skating over the injured Jensen, something that often happens in these types of situation.
The game would be paused as the medical crew brought out the stretcher to take Jensen off of the ice. The officials decided to head to intermission early to give the teams a chance to collect themselves. In the second period, the Capital’s PR staff did release a statement that Jensen was in stable condition and able to move his extremitries.
Any time a play like that happens, it adds another level of intensity to the game. The Capitals were obviously unhappy about the hit, legality aside, and they made to finish their checks for the rest of the night and they finished the game with 56 hits.
The goaltenders turned up their level of play as well as Andrei Vasilevskiy (30 saves) and Charlie Lindgren (32 saves) traded big saves throughout the period. Following the Stamkos miss, Lindgren made an absolutely beauty of a save on Nikita Kucherov, who had found himself all alone on the far post. Kucherov was held off of the scoreboard for the first time in eight games.
In the third period, the Lightning took back-to-back penalties and the Capitals made them pay. Just as the first penalty expired, John Carlson was able to find some open ice in the right circle and he ripped one past Vasilevskiy to give the home team the lead, Nic Dowd, who had fought Eyssimont earlier in the game, all but sealed the game with his 11th goal on the season as he pounced on a loose puck before Vasilevskiy could cover it.
The loss was the second in a row for the Lightning and the third out of four games since clinching a playoff spot. They didn’t play horribly, but there were some coverage issues (especially on the Dowd goal) as well as some failed breakout passes that they will want to work out of their game before the playoffs ramp up next weekend.
With two games left in the season, both at home, they’ll have a chance to work on those basics.
[Game Center] [Natural Stat Trick] [Lines] [Events Summary]
Sonny Milano [14] (Max Pacioretty, Hendrix Lapierre) 1-0 Washington
Anthony Duclair [23] (Brayden Point, Darren Raddysh) 1-1
Sonny Milano [15] (Dylan Strome, Alaiksai Protas) 2-1 Washington
Brandon Hagel [25] (Steven Stamkos, Anthony Cirelli) 2-2
John Carlson [9] (Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson) Power Play, 3-2 Washington
Nic Dowd [11] (Beck Malenstyn, Trevor van Riemsdyk) 4-2 Washington
