Tampa Bay Lightning beat Washington Capitals, 3-2: NHL Play-off Recap
Vincent Lecavalier lit the lamp twice, in the first period and then into extra session, as the Tampa Bay Lightning held on for a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 2 of this Eastern Conference semi-final, at the Verizon Centre on Sunday night.
Martin St. Louis notched a goal and had an assist for Tampa Bay, which recorded its fifth consecutive win in these play-offs and won both games in Washington. Tampa Bay can put a strangle-hold on the series with Games 3 and 4 this week in Florida.
Teddy Purcell assisted twice and Dwayne Roloson turned away 35-of-37 shots.
Brooks Laich and Alex Ovechkin both hit the net for Washington, while Michal Neuvirth stopped 20 shots in the losing effort.
After the Capitals were unable to take advantage on three consecutive power-plays, the Lightning capitalised on its second opportunity to take a 1-0 lead with about one minute left in the opening period.
With Ovechkin in the penalty box for high-sticking, St. Louis took position between the bottom of the circles and threw the puck in the near the right face-off dot, where Lecavalier ripped a rising slap-shot that found its way through traffic and went past
Neuvirth's glove inside the right post.
Washington, though, took command of the play and got three more power-plays in the middle session, scoring the game-tying goal with about five minutes to play in the period. The goal came when Nicklas Backstrom blasted a shot from 15 feet. Although Roloson
got his blocker up to sweep it away, Laich was able to hit the puck down and across the goal line.
St. Louis put the Lightning on top with one-goal edge, 2-1, again about 7 ½ minutes into the final period, when he attempted to send a centring pass from near the goal line to Lecavalier on the left side, but the puck hit off Washington defenseman Mike Green’s
skate and trickled in.
With the time winding up, and Washington having benched its goalie for an extra attacker, Laich passed the puck to Jason Arnott, who slipped it through a defenseman's legs and in front of the net. Ovechkin was in the right spot at the right time and chipped
the loose puck under the crossbar for a 2-2 deadlock with a little over one minute remaining in the third period.
"I thought we had the momentum, quite frankly, for about 45 minutes of this game," said Washington's head coach, Bruce Boudreau. "I felt very comfortable going into overtime."
Lecavalier then struck again to seal the win at 3-2 just less than 6 ½ minutes into the overtime. It happened so when Randy Jones capitalized on a slow Washington’s shift change, tipping a pass from deep inside his own zone up to the Capitals blue line for
Purcell, who was free to down the left wing, then passed it to Lecavalier in front. Lecavalier then lifted the puck over Neuvirth’s shoulder.
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