POSTGAME NOTEBOOK -- Bolts 2, Caps 1 (OT)

Lightning Strikes -Steven Stamkos' goal with 14.2 seconds left in overtime snapped a 1-1 tie and lifted the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 2-1 win over the Caps in a spirited Saturday night contest. Two of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference over the past several seasons went at it for nearly 65 minutes, and both sides were pleased with their play.

In splitting its first two games of the season, Tampa Bay yielded an uncharacteristically high total of six goals in each game, though some were empty-netters. The Lightning was more defensively buttoned down against Washington, and it looked more like the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs than it had in its previous two outings.
For the second time in as many games this season, the Caps turned in a strong defensive performance against a team with a variety of weapons, taking a shutout into the third period for the second time in as many games.
"It was a fun game," says Caps captain Alex Ovechkin. "We had pretty good chances, and we just didn't execute. It was a good game for both teams, but we're not satisfied with the one point obviously. It's okay, we're just going to forget about it and move forward."
The Caps had two golden opportunities to nail down the victory when they went on a power play late in regulation and had a full two minutes with a 4-on-3 manpower advantage in the third. Their third-period power play produced better looks, but neither produced a lamp-lighter. Ovechkin's third goal of the season was Washington's only offense on the evening; it came with 1:09 left in the second, giving the Caps a 1-0 lead at that time.
The Caps' early season defensive performance from a team standpoint has been sturdy, but goalie Vitek Vanecek has also played a large part in that. Vanecek has permitted three goals on 48 shots in nearly 125 minutes of work, with only one of those goals against coming at 5-on-5. While Vanecek had a relatively quiet middle of the game on Wednesday against the Rangers, he was tested more thoroughly on Saturday, and had to make four big stops in the front half of the middle period - including two on Stamkos - when the game was still 0-0.
"I thought he played great," says Caps defenseman John Carlson of Vanecek. "I thought we gave up some real good chances tonight, too, which are obviously tough on goalies. He stood tall, and he came out of the gate in the first game as well and played great. That gives the team a chance to win in every game. I thought we had parts of the game where we played well, but overall he kept us in it."
Hold The Line - Tasked with the tricky assignment of neutralizing the top Tampa Bay forward trio of Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov, Washington's line of Carl Hagelin, Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway handled the chore well.
"They were excellent, and they generated some chances, too," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of his stifling shutdown line. "They certainly did their job. They compete so hard out there, and it's not just about defense; they do a good job of getting into the offensive zone and looking to create. They were good."
Tampa Bay's top line was limited to five shots on net and 11 shot attempts in the game, and it spent a great deal of the night in its own end of the ice. Point's best scoring chance came in overtime when he carved down the middle and put a backhander on net from in tight, but that was a 3-on-3 situation without the Dowd line on the ice, and likely the most time and space he had all night.
"Going into it, I think it's pretty clear what our job is," says Dowd. "We have a lot of elite players that can do what they do, and I think we embrace the opportunity to play our roles on this team. The biggest thing is consistency every night, because from a physical standpoint, me, Hath and Hags don't change from day to day. We're still capable of doing the same thing over and over, it's just mentally being ready to play against those guys every night because you know they can make you look silly.
"I play against [T.J. Oshie] and [Nicklas Backstrom] and Ovi and [Evgeny Kuznetsov] and these guys in practice and if you're not on your game, they make you look really silly. So that consistency is what we're after. I don't want to call it boring hockey, but every time we get the puck in, we create. And it's not like our skill is going to lead to offense; it's our hard work that then leads to our skill so that we can make some plays and then we can create. And in the end, that means they don't have the puck."
The 800 Club - Caps center Lars Eller skated in the 800th game of his NHL career on Saturday against the Lightning, nearly a dozen years after playing in his first game in the League with St. Louis against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 5, 2009.
In his debut with the Blues that night, Eller sported sweater No. 61 and he logged 9:42 in ice time, drew two penalties, put three shots on net and scored a power-play goal in only seven seconds worth of power-play time. Playing mostly on a line with T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund, Eller was also credited with a pair of hits in his NHL debut.
Among all Danish-born players in NHL history, Eller trails only Frans Nielsen (925) in games played.
Point Made - For nearly a decade and a half now, the District has been a difficult place for the Lightning to find a charge. Tampa Bay has won only two of its last 28 games here in regulation, and it has won six of 28 overall. Dating back to the 2007-08 season, the Caps are now 22-2-4 in their last 28 home games against the Lightning.
Down On The Farm -The AHL Hershey Bears won their opening night game on Saturday night, downing the Charlotte Checkers by a 5-2 count in front of a crowd of 7,588 at Giant Center.
Lucas Johansen started the Bears off at 3:31 of the first, scoring his first AHL goal since April 13, 2019 with help from Garrett Pilon and Joe Snively. The Checkers tied it up a few minutes later, but Brett Leason restored the Hershey lead with a power-play goal at 16:35, Brian Pinho and Snively assisting.
In the second, Kody Clark expanded the lead to 3-1 with another power-play goal at 2:43. Mike Vecchione and Mike Sgarbossa assisted on Clark's goal. Charlotte drew within a goal once again, and Hershey carried a 3-2 lead into the third.
Just 24 seconds into the final frame, Sgarbossa scored with help from Pilon and Cody Franson. With 5:34 left in the game, Pilon scored to make it 5-2, Michal Kempny and Sgarbossa assisting.
Pheonix Copley stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced - only four of them over the game's final 40 minutes - to earn his first victory of the season in the Hershey nets.
The Bears are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they host Lehigh Valley at Giant Center.
By The Numbers -Carlson led the Caps with 26:07 in ice time … Ovechkin led Washington with eight shots on net and a whopping 14 shot attempts … Tom Wilson led the Caps with four hits … Martin Fehervary led the Capitals with four blocked shots … Dowd won 11 of 15 draws (73 percent).