Caps Roll Over Lightning, 5-1

Washington erupted for five even-strength goals to finish its four-game homestand with a flourish, with a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night in a contentious contest at Capital One Arena, the first of two tilts between the two teams this weekend. Sonny Milano had two goals and three points, John Carlson returned to the lineup and recorded his 600th career point, Anthony Mantha registered a Gordie Howe hat trick, and Darcy Kuemper was excellent in net from start to finish as the Caps forged a 2-2-0 split for the homestand, their longest of the season.

Caps coach Peter Laviolette watched this one from home; he entered Covid-19 protocol on Friday morning, leaving veteran assistant coach Kevin McCarthy holding the coaching reins.
"Our compete level was pretty good tonight," says McCarthy. "From Kuemps on out, everybody was dialed and their competitive level was where you need it to be to be successful. I thought we played a smart game also. If you do those two things well, you've got a good chance to win games."

Kuemper was active early, and in more ways than one. During one stretch in the front half of the first, he recorded a shot on net while clearing the puck from his end, and soon afterwards had to make two excellent stops on Tampa Bay sniper Nikita Kucherov, who was denied on a breakaway bid and an immediate follow-up.
Just after the midpoint of the first, the Caps took a 1-0 lead when Lars Eller picked up the puck behind the Lightning net and carried out from behind the opposite side. Still down low, he abruptly whirled and fired a sharp cross-crease feed to Mantha on the weak side. Mantha quickly settled it with his skate boot and fired it home, breaking the seal on the scoresheet at 10:32 of the first.
Each team had an unsuccessful power play in the back half of the first, and the Caps took that lead to the room, having blocked more shots (11) than the Lightning put on net (nine) in the first.
Things got heated early in the second when Caps winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel cut across the middle and caught Bolts blueliner Cal Foote with an illegal check to the head, for which he was assessed a match penalty. Foote got up slowly and went off under his own power, but he did not return to the game.
While the officials were huddled at the scorer's booth to take another look at the play, Washington's Garnet Hathaway and Tampa Bay's Pat Maroon dropped mitts and began scrapping. They were excused for five minutes each for fighting plus a 10-minute misconduct.
Not only were the Caps able to successfully snuff out the Lightning's five-minute all-you-can-eat power play that came out of those events, they had a fair amount of offensive zone time of their own during those five minutes, and they doubled their lead as soon as the penalty was up.
Milano served the Aube-Kubel penalty, and as he exited the box Carlson hit him perfectly with a stretch feed, and Milano beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on the breakaway at 7:03 of the second to make it 2-0.

"I knew he was coming out [of the box]," recounts Carlson. "I didn't know how quick it was going to be. It was just kind of reactionary; it worked out well. The puck jumped over my stick and I turned that way and gave it a little extra juice, just in case. I needed to get it out of the zone, first off, because I was tired. But it worked out well. He made an awesome move, and there we go."
Two nights after having a goal taken away by video review, Milano netted his first as a Capital, and it proved to be the game-winner.
"That was definitely nice," says Milano. "I haven't gotten one of those in a while, out of the penalty box. It's definitely kind of a dream there, I was on a breakaway all the time."
In the back half of the frame, the Caps added to their lead when Aliaksei Protas put back a rebound of a Nick Jensen point shot at 14:25, enabling Washington to take a 3-0 lead to the room after 40 minutes of play.
Early in the third, Mantha made a nifty play to send Conor Sheary in alone on Vasilevskiy, and Sheary beat him at 4:53 to make it 4-0.

Rookie Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix broke Kuemper's shutout spell with 7:51 left, scoring on a one-time from above the left circle.
A couple of minutes later, a line brawl ensued after Tampa Bay's Ross Colton issued an emphatic cross-check to Carlson's back. Three players from each side went to the box, including Mantha, who filled out the Gordie Howe hat trick with a fight against the Lightning's Corey Perry.
With 2:15 left, Milano finished off the scoring with a shot from the top of the paint that took a fortuitous bounce and went in.
Coming into Friday's game, Kuemper had posted a sparkling 2.01 GAA and a .931 save pct. in his previous six starts, but some spotty run support resulted in a 1-4-1 record over that stretch. He got more than enough support tonight, and his teammates also blocked a total of 22 shots, with half of those coming in the first period.
"As a group, we came together with the urgency that we really wanted this win," emphasizes Kuemper. "And you could see it in our play right from the start, and it was nice to see everyone get rewarded."
Where one team is pleased with its 5-on-5 play, the other one typically is not, and that was certainly the case tonight.
"Our 5-on-5 play," says Cooper, when asked what hurt his team the most on this night. "We actually weren't in bad shape. We didn't score on the five-minute major, but we had our chances, we had some good looks. It was unfortunate that they scored right after that, so a little bit of a momentum killer.
"But our [defensive] zone play - as good as it was the other night - it wasn't where it should be tonight. Too many shortcuts in the [defensive] zone, and it cost us."
The two teams tangle again on Sunday night at Tampa's Amalie Arena.
Milestone Men - Carlson's helper on the first Milano goal was the 600th point (134 goals, 466 assists) of his NHL career, pushing him past Michal Pivonka (599) for sole possession of fifth place on Washington's all-time scoring list. Carlson achieved the feat in the 897th game of his NHL and Capitals career.
"It's an incredible accomplishment, I think," says Carlson. "I think most everyone would sign up for it coming into their careers. It's been a fun ride with a lot of crazy experiences, and I'm just glad to do it here."
Jensen's assist on the Protas goal was the 100th point of the blueliner's career. After totaling 43 points (six goals, 37 assists) in 190 games with Detroit, Jensen has amassed 57 points (eight goals, 49 assists) in 233 games with the Caps.
Going For The Gord -Mantha's Gordie Howe hat trick was the second of his NHL career; he had two goals, an assist and a fight on Nov. 15, 2017 in an 8-2 win over Calgary when he was a member of the Detroit Red Wings. Ex-Cap Mike Green assisted on both Mantha goals that night, and Mantha finished the night with 25 PIM, earning a pair of game misconducts to go along with his fighting major.
Mantha's Gordie Howe hatty was the first by a Capital since Tyler Lewington pulled it off in Ottawa on Dec. 29, 2018. Lewington was the first Caps defenseman to achieve the feat since … wait for it … Mike Green, who did so on April 15, 2008 in a first-round playoff game against Philadelphia, Game 3 of that series.