With a three-day break from the rigors of the rink looming just beyond their Saturday night home game with the Lightning, the Caps didn’t get caught looking past Tampa Bay, but they weren’t able to stretch their three-game winning streak to four, either. Washington did play beyond 60 minutes for the fourth straight game, and that’s where the Bolts prevailed, 2-1 in the shootout.
The Caps had to be thrilled to keep all of the Lightning’s many top six offensive weapons off the scoresheet, and to limit the high-octane Lightning attack to a paltry total of seven shots on net over the final two periods of regulation. It was Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman who did the Caps in on this night, generating the lone Lightning goal with a point drive in the first period, and then scoring the deciding goal in the shootout.
“I thought it was a good hockey game,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “I wasn’t in love with our start; I thought we were a little bit sleepy to start, and they caught us off guard. And then the second and third periods, I loved both of those periods from us.
“We carried the play – it was tight – but I thought we had the better of the play, I thought we had the better of the chances in the second and third periods, had a couple of really good opportunities to win that game in regulation, and overtime. And so did they; there’s a few. But all in all, I liked what we did tonight against a really good hockey team.”
The first period started out a bit wobbly for the Caps, who were having difficulty stringing together consecutive plays and tape-to-tape passes in the early going. But as usual, Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren kept his team close until they found their collective legs.
Washington killed off a pair of Tampa Bay power plays in the first frame, but shortly after the first successful kill, the Caps fell down by a goal when the Lightning’s fourth line struck for the game’s first marker.
Hedman hopped over the boards and into the Washington zone just in time to one-time a Washington clearing bid toward the net from the left point. Lightning forward Luke Glendening tipped it past Lindgren at 7:29 of the first to stake the visitors to an early lead.
The Caps began to spend more time in the offensive zone as the first frame wore on, and by the end of the opening period the play was fairly even.
Washington pulled even early in the second period when Anthony Mantha netted his 10th goal of the season, tipping home a Nick Jensen right point drive at 2:01 of the middle period.
By this point of the game, the Caps were now stringing together plays and passes successfully, and just before the midpoint of the middle period, they appeared to have taken the lead on a nifty Jensen goal from the high slot, a goal that was preceded by a series of excellent plays high in the Tampa Bay zone. Alas, the Lightning issued a successful coach’s challenge to take the goal off the board, correctly alleging that the Caps were offside on the play.
Washington had the better of the play and the chances over the remainder of regulation, but both teams checked and defended well and tenaciously, and when pucks did get to the middle of the ice at either end, they rarely resulted in a shot on net from that area. Defenders typically closed and quelled those opportunities, and that was particularly true of the Caps, who limited the Lightning to just those seven shots on net over the second and third periods.
But the last of those seven shots was likely Lindgren’s best save of regulation; he held his ground and essentially kept Nick Paul’s net drive attempt out of the net with the toe of his right skate, a save that came with just under two minutes remaining.
Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy was also excellent, as expected. He made 33 stops in regulation and overtime, and was one save better than Lindgren, who was beaten by Brayden Point and Hedman in the shootout, while only Evgeny Kuznetsov was able to solve Vasilevskiy in the skills competition.
“I think it was two teams that are close in the standings, and it was a close game,” says Hedman. “A hard-fought game, a 1-1 game, and we got away with two [points]. So we’re happy with that. Get home and celebrate Christmas, and get back at it.”
Saturday’s win was the Lightning’s third in succession.
“I actually like a lot of the things we’ve done,” says Lightning coach Jon Cooper, asked about his thoughts on his team to this point. “We’ve had to gut some of these games out; we had to pull one out late against Vegas. We haven’t seen Washington this year, and they’re a really good team. So we’ve beat some really good teams in this run we’re on.”
Although they weren’t able to string together a fourth straight win, the Caps left it all on the ice tonight, as they’ve done for each of their first 31 games this season. They’ve gone to overtime in four straight games, five of the last six, and six of the last nine. Additionally, they just finished their third set of back-to-back games in a span of 13 days, and they’re seven games into a stretch of a dozen games in which they must travel to play each and every one, and they’re 4-1-2 at the seven-game mark of that grueling stretch.
In short, they’ve more than earned their three-day holiday break.
“We’ve had a lot of OT games here coming down the stretch here, so nice to get some rest,” says Caps’ defenseman John Carlson. “We’ll look back and find the things that made us successful in these first 30-some-odd games, and then start right back up.”
“I like the break, too, for this right here,” says Carbery as he points to his head. “When you play in these games, they’re taxing, and they grind, and every puck touch is important, and you’re in overtime and it’s tied, and you’re trying to get it to overtime.
“So it’s a good mental break. Get right away from the game; don’t watch hockey, don’t talk about hockey, enjoy your family. It’s a great time of the year to just sit back, enjoy your family, friends, and get away from the game. And then come back a little bit recharged and refreshed.”
