And those were the two primary takeaways for the Lightning. They went toe-to-toe with the Caps and matched Washington's physicality. And, after the Caps had dominated the second period (rebounding from a first period in which the Lightning outplayed them), the Bolts reversed the script again in the third, pushing back on the Caps and regaining momentum.
The Lightning did a number of things well in their strong first and third periods. They forechecked aggressively, repeatedly forcing turnovers in the Washington end. One of those plays led to the first of Alex Killorn's three goals, a quick shot from the left circle that deflected in the Washington net off Dmitry Orlov. They closed off the neutral zone, preventing the Caps from using their speed off the attack. A Caps neutral zone turnover resulted in a counter chance for the Lightning and Tyler Johnson's opening goal of the game. The Lightning also did well to cleanly break pucks out of their own end. Killorn's second goal began with such a play. From there, he did the rest - he outmuscled Nick Jensen to earn a point-blank chance on Braden Holtby and then he finished his own rebound. Erik Cernak's eventual game-winner came at the end of a strong offensive zone shift, one in which the Lightning won several puck battles to maintain possession.
The second period, however, was another story. The Caps elevated their game and the Lightning's play dipped. Tampa Bay struggled with puck management and the Caps owned most of the possession time. The Lightning posted only five shots on net in the frame and managed only six total attempts. Fortunately for the Lightning, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 11 saves in the period to help his team get out of the second still up by a goal.
The Caps gained momentum from a five-on-three penalty kill early in the second. Similarly, the Lightning got a boost from a kill in the opening minute of the third. Cernak's important insurance tally came a couple of minutes later. After that, Holtby made a handful of tough saves, preventing the Lightning from extending their lead even more. Those stops proved to be significant when Alex Ovechkin scored his second goal of the game, cutting the Lightning lead to 4-3 with 7:04 left. Predictably, the Caps made a push in those final minutes, generating some scoring chances and hitting the post on a Jakub Vrana look. But Vasilevskiy provided a few key saves and, as a whole, the Lightning handled those final minutes well. The Bolts produced an excellent penalty kill to preserve the lead and then, after the Caps applied pressure with Holtby on the bench for an extra attacker, sealed the win with Killorn's hat trick goal. Yanni Gourde added another empty-netter in the closing seconds to set the final at 6-3. But clearly, it was a much closer game than that.
The teams meet again next Wednesday in Washington. It'll be interesting to see if that game's intensity level matches this one.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
1. Alex Killorn - Lightning. First NHL hat trick.
2. Erik Cernak - Lightning. GWG.
3. Alex Ovechkin - Capitals. Two goals.
