POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 6, Bolts 3

Start Me Up - All three of Washington's 2018-19 regular season meetings were packed into a two-week stretch in late March, a late-season gift for hockey fans. The three games were entertaining and laced with hostility, which is not at all surprising since the two teams hooked up in a compelling Eastern Conference final series last May.

On Saturday night in Tampa, the Caps won the last of the three games against the Lightning, 6-3.
Although the Lightning is the runaway winner of the Presidents' Trophy for 2018-19, the Caps showed they're right there with Tampa Bay in these three late-season meetings. Sure, the Bolts won two of three; the two teams split a pair of 6-3 decisions in Tampa and the Lightning won 5-4 in overtime in the District on March 20.
But while the Lightning's 6-3 win in Tampa on March 16 was aided by a pair of empty-net goals in the final minute, Washington's 6-3 win on Saturday was more decisive. The Caps dominated the Lightning early, scored the game's first four goals, and put forth a sturdy 60-minute effort in all three zones. And when some of the younger Bolts began getting physically feisty in the third, Brooks Orpik and Tom Wilson gave them pause with punches.

To a man, the Caps knew their first 20 minutes wasn't good enough in the first meeting between the two teams in Tampa on March 16. The Lightning was ready to go that night, the Caps were not, and Washington was looking up at a 3-1 deficit after 20 minutes. The Capitals dug their way out of 3-1 holes in each of the first two meetings against Tampa Bay, but Washington made sure its start was stellar on Saturday.
At the end of the first, the Caps were up 3-0. They held the Lightning without a shot on goal for the first 9:50 of the game, and limited them to just one shot on net over the last eight minutes of the period. None of the Bolts' top six forwards mustered a shot on goal in the first, and none of the five Tampa Bay shots came from inside of 30 feet.
"We came to work," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "We knew we had to work. We knew we had to work away from the puck against them. They're so dangerous on line rushes, they're dangerous in the offensive zone - they're where they are at for a reason. So we knew we had to be on top of our game if we were going to have a chance tonight, and we got fortunate they were off a little bit and we were able to convert on some of our chances.
"For me, it really goes back to our leadership group was excellent, and you see the results from the numbers with those guys tonight. But I thought that they did an outstanding job of getting our group ready to go tonight, and our team was ready to start this game. That gave us a big advantage."
It was supposed to be a celebratory night for the Lightning. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly was on hand to present the Presidents' Trophy to the Bolts before the opening face-off, some 10 months after bestowing the Prince of Wales Trophy on the Capitals in virtually the same spot after Washington ousted Tampa Bay from the playoffs last May 23. Steven Stamkos was also feted before the game; he recently passed Vincent Lecavalier as Tampa Bay's all-time franchise leader in goals, and Lecavalier presented him with a silver stick in a pregame ceremony.
With a win in its final home game of the season, the Lightning would have become just the third team in NHL history to reach the 60-win level. The Bolts can still do so; they'll finish out the season with a four-game road trip against various Atlantic Division foes. The Caps made sure it didn't happen against them.

No. 8 For No. 8 - Sitting on 49 goals in the final period of the Capitals' final regular season game against New Jersey on April 7 of last season, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin put on a frenzied push to reach the coveted 50-goal mark. He needed a hat trick to get there, and he scored twice before putting on a frenzied late push for the magical 50th goal, but ultimately fell short. He missed the net on a third-period breakaway chance and fell one goal short of 50, despite 18 shot attempts in the season finale.
Ovechkin's consolation prize came exactly two months later when he hoisted the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas.
This season, Ovechkin opted to get his shopping done early. He struck the back of the net twice on Saturday night in Tampa, reaching 51 on the season, hitting the magic mark with three games remaining. Ovechkin has had eight 50-goal seasons; only Hockey Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy (nine each) have had more.
On his 50th goal, Ovechkin first missed the net, then buried a second chance when T.J. Oshie funneled the puck back to him. In the process, Ovechkin plowed veteran Bolts blueliner Braydon Coburn to the ice, calling to mind the defenseman's long ago days with Philly, when he and partner Kimmo Timonen were generally sent out to defend against Ovechkin's line.
"I have a couple of chances previous years to score 50, but I didn't," says Ovechkin. "You always want to do something special, obviously, but sometimes it's hard. I'm happy to get it done."

Since Ovechkin came into the NHL in 2005-06, there have been 21 seasons of 50 or more goals, with the Caps captain accounting for eight of them (38.1 percent). During Gretzky's time in the league, he accounted for nine of the 131 seasons of 50 or more goals (6.9 percent). Bossy accounted for nine of the 68 seasons (13.2 percent) of 50 or more goals during the course of his NHL career.
"I've talked a lot about him this year and it's well-deserved," says Reirden, "but in the number of different things that he has accomplished, it's obviously been a phenomenal milestone year for him, and it's going to continue to be for the next few years as well.
"But 50 goals eight times is remarkable. How he has done it this year is he has scored goals all different ways. Again, we are so fortunate to have this player in Washington and playing for the Capitals. He is a generational talent, and the NHL is fortunate to have a guy like this. We are spoiled in Washington for sure, but the whole National Hockey League is spoiled to have a guy like this, and I'm just really happy for him because he put the work in. He put the work in, and he deserves it."

Forecheck, Please - Because Tampa bay is the league's most potent offensive team in more than two decades and because no lead is truly safe against the Lightning, every goal scored against the Bolts is important. With that in mind, let's put a microscope on Washington's second goal of the game on Saturday.
The Caps grabbed the game's first goal before the midpoint of the first, on a Nicklas Backstrom rush goal. A couple of shifts later, Reirden opted to put Carl Hagelin out with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Oshie, instead of Jakub Vrana, who took the first few shifts of the game on that line.
Hagelin came over the boards and sped directly into the right wing corner on the forecheck, where he won a puck battle with 2018 Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman, keeping the possession and the offensive zone shift alive. Seconds later, Hagelin was in the left wing corner, taking a pass from Kuznetsov and curling around the back of the Lightning net with Hedman in pursuit. Hagelin fed Nick Jensen at the right point, and Jensen fired. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made the stop, but Oshie swept the rebound home to give Washington a luxury it had not enjoyed since last May, a multi-goal lead over the mighty Lightning.
"I'm glad you start there," says Oshie in response to a reporter's query on what Hagelin can bring to a line, even for a shift or two, "because a lot of times people switch to the pass or the goal or the shot. But the work Hags does away from the puck, or usually a couple of seconds before a goal happens was exactly what he did out there.
"He came out with us, he did a great job of getting in on the forecheck, he got it out to our [defenseman], and Jens made a great play in getting it to the net. I was able to get on the right side of my [defenseman] and pound her home. We've got a lot of respect for what Hags does out there for us and for what he brings to the table for our team. It's very unselfish."
It's a great play all around and a key goal, and also some prescient button pushing by the Caps' coaching crew, which we've seen on a few occasions of late.
"When you're on the road and not getting last change," says Reirden, "early on I'm trying to figure out the match-ups that they want to go with. I started with the lines a certain way, and then when they were going with their top players against Kuznetsov, I thought he just needed a little bit more of a defensive player with him, so I wanted to put Hagelin with him, and it worked out right away.
"So that was my thinking behind it. I just think that Hagelin is so experienced and he has played in these important games before and done such a great job defensively. He creates a lot of havoc as well on the forecheck, and that exchange worked out well for us."

Milestone Men - Ovechkin reaching the 50-goal plateau was the most significant personal achievement arising from Saturday's win over the Lightning, but it was far from the only one.
Backstrom recorded his sixth season with 20 or more goals, and his fourth straight season with the double sawbuck. Oshie reached 25 goals and 50 points in Saturday's win. He has had three 25-goal seasons, all with Washington and all in the last four seasons. Oshie reached 50 points for the sixth time in his NHL career and the third time with the Capitals.
Kuznetsov reached the 50-assist plateau for the third time in his career, all in the last four seasons. John Carlson pushed his way up to 69 points (13 goals, 56 assists) to established a single-season career high in that category.
Drawerings - Lars Eller was a beast on the dot in Saturday's game, winning nine of 10 face-offs (90 percent) and helping the Caps to a rare night on the good side of 50 percent. Washington won 33 of 61 face-offs (54 percent) as Eller, Kuznetsov and Nic Dowd all won more than half of their drops.
Depleted On Defense - Tampa Bay lost Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Victor Hedman to an upper body injury on Saturday; he did not play after the first period. Eric Cernak was lost for the remainder of the game midway through the third period courtesy of Wilson's right fist, leaving the Lightning with just four blueliners the rest of the way.
Ryan McDonagh (29:13) and Mikhail Sergachev (24:37) stepped up to absorb most of those minutes. Tampa Bay was already playing without veteran blueliners Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman because of injuries.
Down On The Farm -The AHL Hershey Bears earned a 2-1 home ice win over the Providence Bruins on Saturday night at Giant Center. Newly signed forward Joe Snively - a local product from Herndon, Va. and Hobey Baker nominee after a standpout career at Yale - scored his first professional goal in his first professional game, and it turned out to be the game-winner for Hershey.
The Bears were down 1-0 after 40 minutes of play, but Devante Smith-Pelly tied the score at 1-1 just 17 seconds into the third, getting help from Jayson Megna and Nathan Walker.
Snively scored on a Hershey power play just after the midpoint of the third, making it a 2-1 game at 10:57 with help from Garrett Pilon and Walker.
Ilya Samsonov made that slim margin stand up, making 28 saves in improving to 18-13-2 on the season.
The 37-24-3-4 Bears are on the road on Sunday, facing the Sound Tigers in Bridgeport. Hershey is tied with Providence for third place in the AHL's Atlantic Division, but the Bears hold two games in hand on the P-Bruins.
By The Numbers - Carlson led the Caps with 24:39 in ice time … Ovechkin led the Caps with eight shots on net and 13 shot attempts. In the three games against Tampa Bay this season, he has totaled 26 shots on net, 43 attempts, four goals and five points … Ovechkin also led the Caps with four hits … Dmitry Orlov, Hagelin and Oshie each blocked two shots to lead Washington.