The Lightning suffered a 4-2 loss to the Capitals on Saturday evening in their final regular season road game.
It was a back-and-forth first period, with the teams evenly splitting four goals that were all scored in a span of 6:26. The period also featured a scary moment when a clean hit from Mikey Eyssimont sent Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen falling awkwardly into the boards. Jensen left the ice on a stretcher, but it was later announced he was conscious and had movement in all his extremities.
When play resumed, the physicality ramped up, but it remained tied until John Carlson scored the game-winner for Washington on a power play at 8:29 of the third.
The Bolts will now return to Tampa to close out the regular season with home games against Buffalo and Toronto next week.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
WSH 1, TBL 0
9:56 Sonny Milano (14) – Max Pacioretty, Hendrix Lapierre
Washington struck first just past the midway point of the first period. Max Pacioretty’s feed was deflected but still got through to Sonny Milano and he swept a backhand shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
WSH 1, TBL 1
13:06 Anthony Duclair (23) – Brayden Point, Darren Raddysh
Darren Raddysh’s wrist shot from the right point was deflected twice on its way past Charlie Lindgren. Brayden Point first got a touch with his stick, directing the puck toward the front of the net where it banked off Anthony Duclair’s skate and into the net.
WSH 2, TBL 1
14:00 Sonny Milano (15) – Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas
The Caps came right back and retook the lead on Milano’s second goal of the period. A Lightning outlet pass was deflected back toward the net. Vasilevskiy tried to sweep it out of danger, but Milano quickly pounced to put Washington back in front.
WSH 2, TBL 2
16:24 Brandon Hagel (25) – Steven Stamkos, Anthony Cirelli
Anthony Cirelli forced the Capitals into a turnover in their own zone and eventually the puck wound up with Brandon Hagel at the right circle. Hagel roofed his backhand shot on Lindgren to tie the game again.
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
WSH 3, TBL 28:29 John Carlson (9) – Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson – PPG
Back-to-back penalties on the Bolts gave Washington over a minute of 5-on-3 time. Just seconds after the first penalty expired and before Tanner Jeannot had a chance to rejoin the play, John Carlson snapped a wrist shot past Vasilevskiy to make it 3-2, Washington.
WSH 4, TBL 2
16:46 Nic Dowd (11) – Beck Malenstyn, Trevor van Riemsdyk
Washinton got some insurance with less than four minutes to play in regulation when the rebound of a Beck Malenstyn shot was put home by Nic Dowd in front.
