Caps Drop Bolts, 4-3

John Carlson had a hand in all of Washington's offense, scoring a pair of power-play goals and adding a pair of assists as the Capitals took a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena. Carlson's four-point game is his second of the season and third of his career, matching his single-game personal best.

Wednesday's win enabled the Caps to earn a split in a four-game homestand, and it halted their slide at two games. Coming off a pair of lopsided losses, the Caps needed a win of any kind against the Lightning. But being able to score first, add to the lead and then maintain it for the remainder of the evening is a plus.
"It's been too many times where we are one down or we're two down, and it's halfway through the first period," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "At that point, it changes a little bit; you're chasing the game.
"It's got a different feel to it when you can settle into it, keep the attack going and get that first goal, I think it changes everybody's mindset a little bit. But I just thought we were more focused tonight, too. That showed from the start, it showed in the way we played and ultimately led to some offense."
The Caps and the Lightning combined for a high event first frame on Wednesday. The two teams combined to put seven pucks in the net in the opening period, though each team had a goal that didn't count.
Washington started the scoring at 5:10 of the first. Conor Sheary got in on the forecheck and pulled the puck away from Brayden Point in the corner. He fed Carlson in front, and Carlson deftly sold the shot before feeding Martin Fehervary, who beat Andrei Vasilevksiy on the short side for a 1-0 Washington lead.

Just over two minutes later, the Caps doubled their advantage on the game's first power play. From the right wing corner, Evgeny Kuznetsov fired a hot feed to Carlson at center point. Carlson one-timed it right back at the net and in for a 2-0 Caps' lead at 7:38 of the first.
The Lightning responded 63 seconds later, making 2-1 on a Nikita Kucherov goal from the slot at 8:41. Washington wasn't able to exit its zone cleanly, and Caps goalie Ilya Samsonov was sans stick on the play.
Tampa Bay appeared to have pulled even just over two minutes later when Ondrej Palat scored from the slot on a follow-up, but officials immediately ruled that Kucherov had played the puck with his hand, nullifying the goal and preserving the Washington lead.
With just under five minutes remaining in the first, the Caps restored their two-goal cushion and their captain claimed another milestone in the process. After the Caps were guilty of icing, Evgeny Kuznetsov won the defensive zone draw and Washington broke it out, with Carlson carrying into Tampa Bay ice on an odd-man rush. He dished to Alex Ovechkin, whose feed for Kuznetsov got tangled in the center man's skates. No problem, Ovechkin simply retrieved it and fired it home, bar down, for a 3-1 lead at 15:10. The goal was Ovechkin's 43rd of the season, and the point was the 1,400th of his career.
Again, the Bolts responded quickly. After a quick neutral zone regroup, the Lightning regained Washington ice and made it 3-2 when Nick Paul fired a shot past Samsonov from the high slot at 16:31.
Carlson appeared to have restored Washington's two-goal cushion yet again when he scored with 5.7 seconds left in the first, but Tampa Bay issued a successful coach's challenge, alleging the play was offside. Video review showed that Carlson himself was just a shade early entering the zone, and the Caps had to be content with a one-goal lead after 20 minutes of play.
Things simmered down some in the second as far as lamp lighting was concerned. The two sides traded unsuccessful power plays, and then Washington got another crack with the extra man late in the period, and it was able to restore its two-goal cushion once again.
Carlson teed up Ovechkin for a one-timer from the office, but Bolts blueliner Jan Ruutta blocked it. Puck hound T.J. Oshie retrieved the disc, and he sent it back to Carlson. This time, Carlson crept into the high slot and beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot, making it 4-2 at 16:35 of the second.

The Lightning pushed hard for the remainder of the second, but this time it was not able to issue a quick response to this Capitals tally.
Penalties were plentiful in the third, as the Lightning was whistled for three and Washington for four minors, leading to a spot of 4-on-4 play and some power plays on both sides. Lightning coach Jon Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker with 5:31 remaining, then reinstalled him when the Bolts went on the power play just over a minute later.
With 2:50 left in the third, Ross Colton scored a power-play goal on a one-timer from the right dot, again pulling the Lightning to within a goal of the Caps at 4-3.
Both goaltenders made some big stops late to keep the score where it was; Vasilevskiy denied an Ovechkin breakaway and Samsonov stopped a Palat backhander from in tight with just under a minute remaining. But appropriately enough, it was Carlson who denied the Lightning's last and best chance late. He sprawled out to pokecheck Point just as the Tampa Bay pivot was about to pull the trigger from the slot in the waning seconds.
Wednesday's loss was Tampa Bay's third in a row (0-2-1), matching its longest slide of the season.
"It definitely wasn't one of our worst efforts we've had in the past while," says Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. "We kept going, we didn't quit, we were down a couple of goals and we had that mentality going for us today."
With Wednesday's win, the Caps are 13 points up on the New York Islanders for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
"That was a huge two points for us," says Kuznetsov. "We played [defense] pretty good sometimes; sometimes not. But at the end of the day, we played for each other a lot today. That was a fun game to watch and play."