Tampa Bay Lightning stun Washington Capitals with 3-2 over-time win in Game 2 – NHL Play-offs
The Number one seed of the Eastern Conference, Washington faced yet another disappointment on their own ice rink after they lost for the second time against the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in over-time at the Verizon Centre in Washington on Sunday.
Tampa Bay took a staggering 2-0 lead in the semi-final series after the game two win.
After a shocking game one loss 4-2, the Capitals disappointed the sold out crowd once again. Ending the regulation season on such a high note and overtaking the Philadelphia Flyers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, Washington is doing it all wrong
at a time when performance matters the most.
One reason for Tampa Bay’s victory over the Capitals was their ability to kill so many power-plays throughout the game. Having given Washington six power-play opportunities, the Capitals could have easily taken over the game. "You've got to look at the penalty
killing....That was the difference right there," Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier said. "We gave them a lot of power plays -- we were a little bit undisciplined with our sticks -- but our penalty killing was phenomenal."
Lecavalier scored the inaugural goal of the game late in the first period with under a minute remaining. He took advantage of the Capitals’ second penalty when their Captain Alex Ovechkin was booked for high-sticking Brett Clark. Brooks Laich levelled up
the match with a little over five minutes remaining during the second period. Martin St. Louis took the lead for Tampa Bay early in the final but after an intense battle, Ovechkin showed his captaincy and scored another equalising goal at the 18:52 mark forcing
over-time.
It became a match between Ovechkin and Lecavalier in the extended 20 minutes of over-time. Lecavalier emerged victorious when he fired off the game winner and gave the Lightning a chance to put Washington on the verge of elimination during game three. He
took a shot from nearly 20 feet away from their goalie, Michal Neuvirth which slid of the skate of Mike Green and through his legs which caused the crowd to go into immediate silence.
"It's nice to get the two wins," Lecavalier said. "We know how it went against Pittsburgh. It was the other way around, but we know it's not over until it's over. It's obviously far from being over against a team like Washington. You can't let your guard
down. We have to go home and play some good hockey."
Tampa Bay realises that the series can take a u-turn at anytime, so taking the remaining games of the series easy will not be something on their agenda. Like they recovered late in the quarter-finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins after being on the brink
of elimination after game four, they won three consecutive match-ups to eliminate them instead.
Both teams will face-off against each other again in game three on Tuesday as Tampa Bay will look to take advantage of being at home for the next two.
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