It would have been nice to celebrate Jon Cooper’s 900th game behind the bench with a victory, but turnovers and poor decisions led to the Washington Capitals scoring three times in the third period for a come-from-behind, 5-4 win. Brayden Point was able to briefly celebrate his fifth career hat trick, and Mikey Eyssimont scored his second goal in as many games. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of 32 shots in the loss.
At the other end, Charlie Lindgren scored a goal, but unfortunately it was into his own net, but a key save on Nikita Kucherov shortly after that mishap was the biggest among the 24 he made on the night. Five different Capitals scored as they connected short-handed, on a delayed penalty, and on the power play. It was Tom Wilson’s power play goal with less than three minutes to go that was the deciding goal.
First Period:
20:00 – The TNT crew points out this is the first game between the two teams in a long time to not feature Steven Stamkos or Alex Ovechkin, and we are now sad. The crew of Brandon Burke, Jennifer Botterill, and Darren Pang are fun, though.
18:39 – Tom Wilson introduces himself to Brandon Hagel after Hags makes contact with Charlie Lindgren. The replay shows that Hagel lost an edge and then took out Lindgren’s legs. All is well.
17:37 – All is not well as Emil Lilleberg takes out Nic Dowd at the blueline. Dowd had his head down and shoulder met shoulder. Brandon Duhaime drops the gloves with Lilleberg, but the fight was short after the Capital forward lost his balance before any real big punches were thrown.
16:12 – Vasilevskiy stands tall amidst a flurry of shots. After the shots were 5-1 in favor of the Lightning, one shift by the Washington second line evened it up.
16:02 – Jake Guentzel blocks a shot and it leads to a two-on-one that Point backhands over Lindgren’s glove for the 1-0 lead! A backhand wizard, got such a supple wrist. Brayden Point (Jake Guentzel) 1-0 Lightning
9:44 – The action has settled down a bit since the Point goal as neither team has a shot on goal following it. Both teams are playing physical and finishing their checks. There have been a couple of breakdowns in the Lightning zone, but the forwards have done a good job of staying in the zone to help cover open players.
8:20 – Old friend Taylor Raddysh goes for slashing, and following the TV break, the Lightning’s power play will get it’s first look of the night.
7:33 – Good lord, Nikita Kucherov. What an absolute bullet for a slap-pass by Kucherov and Brayden Point has all day long to put it into the net. Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman) Power Play, 2-0 Lightning
6:55 – Now it’s Washington’s turn with the extra skater as LIlleberg makes the lonely skate to the penalty box.
4:34 – Lilleberg is so overjoyed by his teammates killing the penalty that he rushes out onto the ice and buries a Capital along the boards which allows one final clear.
2:53 – One more power play for the Lightning as Lars Eller trips up Cameron Atkinson. The penalty bails Tampa Bay out as they were chasing things a bit on the previous shift.
0:00 – The period is over. Despite excellent zone time on the power play, the Lightning can’t convert for their third goal. There were some chances, but nothing got through. Solid first period with a couple of hiccups, but they didn’t get burned. There is a feeling that the next goal will be important.
Second Period:
17:04 – Two chances for Mikey Eyssimont as he a little room on a partial breakaway, but Jakob Chychrun does enough to disrupt him.
12:35 – Now it’s the Lightning that are living dangerously with multiple icings. Washington is pushing to start the second period, and the Lightning need to be cleaner with their breakouts. A couple have been picked off which has led to a lot of zone time for the Caps this period.
9:29 – Well, at least the Lightning don’t have to kill a penalty as Andrew Mangiapane tips one home on a delayed penalty. It felt like that one was coming penalty or not as the Caps have been absolutely owning this period. Andrew Mangiapane (Lars Eller, Hendrix LaPierre) 2-1 Lightning
7:31 Aliaksei Protas, short-handed, beats Vasilevskiy on the rush to tie things up. My, how the turntables have turned. Aliaksei Protas (Tom Wilson) Short-handed, 2-2
2:56 – The Lightning finally get their forecheck going again as it had been non-existent early in the period. They have to reset after the two-goal lead evaporates and get back to playing simple.
1:28 – Thanks, TNT crew. They just mentioned that Anthony Cirelli hasn’t played since blocking a shot earlier in the period. He’s apparently in the locker room. Awesome.
0:42 – MIKEY LIKES IT! HE REALLY LIKES IT! A good forecheck keeps the puck in the zone and Eyssimont has room on the far side to tuck the puck in as Lindgren is looking the other way. Huge goal for the Lightning. Mikey Eyssimont (Zemgus Girgensons) 3-2 Lightning
Third Period:
20:00 – Anthony Cirelli starts the second period on the bench as the final period is under way.
18:59 – Vasilevskiy stops Tom Wilson from point blank without allowing a rebound. He was on his mark for that one and it stays 3-2 Lightning.
18:23 – An extra pass in the offensive zone leads to a turnover and an odd-man rush for the Caps as Dylan Strome finishes it off. Too much space through the neutral zone for the Caps right now. Dylan Strome (Taylor Raddysh, Aliaksei Protas) 3-3
12:35 – Um. Charlie Lindgren. Not his finest moment as he backhands a puck into his own net. Pierre-Luc Dubois sent it down into his own zone, and with a light forecheck bearing down on him, Lindgren misjudges his position on the ice and slings it into his own net. Brayden Point (unassisted) 4-3 Lightning
9:30 – The Caps just won’t go away. John Carlson is able to skate in and around a couple of players at the blue line and just whistles one past Vasilevskiy. John Carlson (unassisted) 4-4
5:01 – A turnover leads to a quality chance for Connor McMichael, but Vasy makes the save. Looks like Tom Wilson took a hit up high on the play from Kucherov and skates gingerly to the bench. The Bolts have been their own worst enemy in the neutral zone tonight as their passing and puck possession has been off for much of the night.
4:03 – Cirelli puts the puck in the net, but it doesn’t count as the whistle had blown for a high-stick. It’s initially called a double-minor.
3:26 – The Caps score as Tom Wilson deflects one home. They take the lead and still have another power play. Tom Wilson (Jakob Chychrun, Dylan Strome) Power Play, 5-4 Capitals
0:33 – The Lightning call a time-out down by a goal. They’ll need some late magic to pull at least a point out of this game. A nice shot from Kucherov off of the face-off comes close.
0:00 – Point’s desperation wrister is blocked away at the blue line and there is no magic in Amalie tonight. This one hurts a bit.
The Charts:
Warm-ups:
It’s an 11/7 night as Cameron Atkinson joins The Kid Line for a night. Vasilevskiy is in net, as usual.
Pregame #TBLightning line rushes Guentzel-Point-Kucherov Hagel-Cirelli Goncalves-Geekie-Atkinson Girgensons-Glendening-Eyssimont Pregame #GoBolts D pairings Hedman-Moser McDonagh-Cernak Lilleberg-Perbix Raddysh Vasilevskiy Johansson
— Lightning Insider (@erikerlendsson.bsky.social) November 27, 2024 at 7:06 PM
[image or embed]
Tonight, Jon Cooper will be coaching in his 900th game, so here is some random Lightning coaching trivia involving Coop.
- The Lightning have played 2,460 regular season games, according to Hockey Reference. Coach Cooper has been behind the bench for 36.5% of them.
- The Lightning have won 1,138 games, and Coach Cooper is responsible for 47.1% of them.
- He has the second-most wins of any NHL coach through their first 900 games, trailing only local resident Scotty Bowman who has 548.
- Coach Cooper will be the 38th head coach to reach 900 games, and just the 9th to do it with one team.
- He currently ranks 27th all-time in wins, 29th in points, and 18th in points percentage.
- As for playoffs, he’s coached 68.5% of their 219 postseason games, and is responsible for 70.1% of their wins, and 66.6% of their Stanley Cups.
Morning Skate:
Per Gabby Shirley, Mitchell Chaffee is out and Cameron Atkinson is in. With just 11 healthy forwards, it’ll be another 11/7 rotation for the Bolts.
