Ovechkin, the Capitals captain, was in the middle of everything. He had three shots on goal, three hits and was credited with one of Washington's 19 blocked shots. The 32-year-old forward has a team-high 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who had two assists Friday, is next with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists).
For one game at least, Washington's top line of Ovechkin, Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson held serve in the head-to-head matchup with Tampa Bay's checking line of Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson.
Palat, Point and Johnson helped hold the Boston Bruins' high-powered top line of David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand without an even-strength goal in the final three games of their second-round series, which Tampa Bay won in five games. Ovechkin, Kuznetsov and Wilson helped generate an even-strength goal from defenseman Michal Kempny that gave Washington a 1-0 lead 7:28 into the first period.
Ovechkin stationed himself in front of the net, bringing Lightning defensemen Dan Girardi and Victor Hedman with him, to create a screen that blocked much of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy's view of Kempny's wrist shot from the left point, which sailed over his catching glove.
Going to the net to create screens and seek deflections and rebounds will be pivotal throughout the series against Vasilevskiy, a Vezina Trophy finalist who was pulled after giving up four goals on 25 shots in the first two periods.
"There's different ways to score and that's one of them," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "I like the fact that we had people looking to get pucks in play and make it hard on their goaltender. It was a real good shot by Kempny. He sort of threw it through there and made it real difficult, and it goes through and it gave us a chance. If there's no one there, I'm pretty sure the goalie makes the save."