Tampa Bay Lightning travel to play against Washington Capitals – NHL Preview
Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals need a few more victories and a bit of good fortune to reach the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs.
Both teams are close to securing a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but the competition is quite tough as many other teams of the league are also contending for those spots.
In such a situation an encounter between these two teams adds to the thrill of the game as one of them will move forward after the result and the other will be pushed down.
The match will take place on Thursday, March 8, 2012, at Verizon Center, Washington, District of Columbia.
Here is a look at both teams.
Lightning
They are ranked at 11th spot in the Eastern Conference with 68 points after 66 games and are four points behind the eighth-ranked Winnipeg Jets.
Out of the last five games, they have won four, but got defeated in a pathetic manner in the last game against Ottawa Senators.
Senators scored three goals in the first period and three in the final while scoring one in the second. Lightning scored twice in the second period and managed one goal in the final.
After such a miserable performance, it becomes difficult to favour Lightning in future games against tough teams.
Capitals
Capitals are ranked at ninth spot in the Eastern Conference with 70 points after 66 games and are just two points behind Jets.
However, they are regressing at fast pace and are presently on a three-game losing streak with the defeats coming against New Jersey Devils (5-0), Philadelphia Flyers (1-0) and Carolina Hurricanes (4-3 in overtime)
Capitals’ defenseman, Dennis Wideman, said of the team’s situation:
"We're getting to that point. We're making it really hard on ourselves going down the stretch here. We've got to start winning some hockey games here or we're going to have to string together the last seven or eight of the season. We're going to have to
start winning."
All the recent defeats for Capitals came on home ice and this gives Lightning an opportunity to humiliate Capitals one more time.
Predictions
Both teams are not in ideal form, but Capitals’ slump has given an edge to Lightning.
The sum of goals scored by both teams might exceed six.
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