All night long, Alex Ovechkin had a shadow, and that shadow was named Janis Moser. The Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman was a big part of Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals teammates being kept off the scoreboard. That tight coverage and back-checking helped Andrei Vasilevskiy post his first shutout of the year, and the 35th of his career, as the Lightning won, 3-0.
Vasilevskiy bounced back from a couple of subpar outings to pick up career win number 297 with a 31-save performance. Mitchell Chaffe started the scoring with his second of the season in the middle frame, and then Brayden Point and Conor Geekie struck quickly in the third period to extend the lead. For Geekie, it was his first career NHL goal. Unlike against the Minnesota Wild, the Lightning were able to crack Washington’s staunch defense late in the game to take the lead and expand on it.
It was another strong period for the team, harkening back to the first three games of the season, as they held the Caps to just 7 shots in the third period. They were also perfect on the penalty kill, stopping both of Washington’s chances. Nikita Kucherov picked up an assist on Point’s goal to extend his season-opening point streak to eight games.
First Period:
19:18 – A really nice first shift by the third line. They spent the entire time in the Caps zone and almost batted one home.
17:29 – Vasilevskiy shrugs away Alaiksei Protas’ shot off if a breakaway. Both Lightning defenseman were well behind the play after the top line had generated a chance down low. It wasn’t the toughest save on a breakaway in Vasy’s career.
13:36 – There has been a little more pace from the two teams so far tonight, but still no goals as they head into the first TV break. Ovechkin was hunting for a loose puck in front of the Lightning net on his last shift, but Moser boxed him out and never let him get to the puck.
12:02 – Jake Guentzel with the Lightning’s best chance so far as he fires a puck into the glove of Lindgren off a nice pass from Kucherov (what’s new).
9:12 Another TV break is here without a goal on the board. It hasn’t been a pretty game by any means so far as neither team has found a lot of space on the ice. Washington is playing into the “heavy” team stereotype as they are out-hitting the Lightning 12-3. Of course, that also indicates the Lightning have had the puck more.
2:18 – Nick Paul’s backcheck likely prevented a goal for Washington. Their two-on-one finds the skater at the back post, but Paul is able to disrupt the play enough to ensure a weak shot towards the net. The Lightning forwards on a whole have been a lot more supportive than last season – one of the reasons the 5v5 defense has been better.
1:23 – The fast-rolling object versus the paper thin obstacle meets for the first time tonight. Mikey Eyssimont is off for tripping and here comes the Capitals power play.
00:00 – Anthony Cirelli easy swaps the puck out of the zone as the buzzer sounds to end the period. The Lightning have not allowed much for the Caps power play so far.
Second Period:
17:23 – Vasy squeezes the pads tight with the Caps lurking about. The Bolts finished off their penalty kill fairly easily, but Washington has held on to some of the momentum.
14:33 – Nick Paul does it all (by assisting on a goal)! Another excellent shift by this line ends with Eyssimont dropping a pass back to Paul who rifles it towards the net and Mitchell Chaffee deflects it home. Mitchell Chaffee (Nick Paul, Mikey Eyssimont) 1-0 Lightning
12:12 – Chaos on the ice. Luke Glendening blocks a shot and is off to the races. His shot is swallowed up by Charlie Lindgren, who gets knocked to the ice by a flying Glendening. Behind it, Emil Lilleberg and Brandon Duhaime get into a scrap. The Mountain Lilly gets one shot in but then takes a clean shot. Not bad for his first career NHL fight.
10:18 – As he skates to the bench, Kucherov is swatted from behind and whips his head around. Once he sees it’s Ovi, he smiles. The Paul line had another dominating shift in the offensive zone, but their tipped shots went just wide a couple of times.
8:28 – Pierre-Luc Dubois rings the post behind Vasilevskiy, but the puck comes right back to the big goaltender.
5:57 – Nick Perbix, who seems to be moving a lot better this year, makes two nice defensive plays. He’s been in the line-up the last three games, and has played some of his best hockey in a while.
5:17 – Dubois again tests Vasilevskiy after Eyssimont turns it over in a bad spot. Vasy kept the pads low to deny two shots from PLD.
4:04 – A snow shower on Vasy from Hendrix Lapierre leads to the Caps forward getting buried under a pile of players. Lapierre heads to the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Bolts are on the power play!
2:02 – The Bolts are off the power play! It doesn’t connect, and was a bit out of sorts early on. The second unit was able to get into the zone a little easier, but they didn’t have much time to generate anything.
0:00 – The Bolts take the lead in the second period. and then spend most of the middle frame defending their lead. Caps with a decisive lead in high-danger chances (6-2) in that period. But, they are in the locker room with the lead, now they just need to protect it.
Third Period:
17:34 – Fire up the Sweet Georgia Brown as Brayden Point finishes off a nice passing play that was started by Guentzel. It’s an eight-game points streak to start the season for Kucherov. Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov) 2-0 Lightning
16:41 – The Lightning goal – CONOR GEEEEEKIEEEE! It’s his first career NHL goal as he rips it from the slot off of a feed from Anthony Cirelli Conor Geekie (Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel)
13:01 – This is the Lightning squad we remember from the first three games. Getting the lead and outplaying the opponent. They aren’t giving the Caps much of anything right now. J.J. Moser is absolutely in Ovi’s head right now. Kind of reminds us how Pavel Kubina used to frustrate Jaromir Jagr when Jags was in Washington.
11:59 – “That’s it! Let’s go!” The officials are done with this post-whistle scuffle after Lilleberg takes a late-ish hit from Andrew Mangiapane illy. A few minutes later Erik Cernak heads to the penalty box for another get together after the play.
10:40 – John Carlson interferes at the blue line and we’re going 4-on-4 for the next 1:42. It was a tic-tack call as both players seemed to be equally at fault for the collision. Washington takes their sweet time getting their players back on the ice.
4:46 – The Lightning are the ones standing up in the neutral zone and clamping down on the Washington offense. There were some excellent backchecks from the forwards to lift sticks at the right time – looking at you, Mitch Chaffee.
1:39 – The Lightning head to the power play as Dylan Strome is whistled for slashing. It would be nice to finish this game off with a power play goal. They’re technically 0-2, but the second power play was mere seconds long.
0:29 – Geekie blasts one 88.7 MPH, but it hits the handle of Lindgren’s stick and goes off harmlessly.
0:00 – Vasilevskiy posts the shutout and the Lightning are back in the win column!
The Charts
Warm-up Lines:
The Morning Skate:
There are no lines from the morning as the Bolts held an optional skate. Coach Cooper did speak with the press, and stated that the biggest priority of the game is “keeping the puck out of the net”. He did go on to break it down a little farther, pointing out that the chances that they are giving up are big ones (i.e. dangerous ones) and those have to be limited.
He also compared the Capitals to the Wild in the sense that they are a solid defensive team that forces their opponents to “fight through them”. He felt like the Bolts didn’t do it quite enough against Minnesota in the last game.
Some other notes from the team:
- The Lightning are 48-77-15 all-time against Washington, but 5-4-0 over the last three seasons!
- Cam Atkinson is one goal shy of 250 for his career.
- Jake Guentzel is just two points shy of 500 for his career.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy is still sitting at 296 wins.
- Tony Cirelli is currently third among NHL centers with 8 assists.
- The Lightning are the only team to have two players with hat tricks so far this season.
