Capitals, Lightning set for Game 7 in Eastern Conference Final

NEW YORK --The Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals will decide the Eastern Conference Final in Game 7 Wednesday night at AMALIE Arena in Tampa (8 p.m., ET, NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS). This marks the fourth consecutive year that the Eastern Conference Final has required a seventh and deciding game.
The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Final and face the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights in a best-of-seven series beginning Monday, May 28.

RELATED: [Complete Lightning vs. Capitals series coverage]
If the Lightning advance, they will host Game 1 against the Golden Knights at AMALIE Arena in Tampa. If the Capitals advance, they will play Game 1 on the road against the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While the Lightning and Capitals never have met in a winner-take-all contest, and have not played one in the 2018 postseason, Game 7 is familiar territory for both.
* The Lightning will contest a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Final for the third time in the past four years, having defeated the New York Rangers 2-0 in 2015 and dropped a 2-1 decision to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016.
* Four Lightning players have tallied a game-winning goal in a Game 7 (Braydon Coburn, Dan Girardi, Alex Killorn and Chris Kunitz). It was Kunitz who scored at 5:09 of double-overtime to give the Penguins a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators in Game 7 of last year's Eastern Conference Final.
* Six Lightning players have at least five career Game 7 wins: Anton Stralman (7-1), Ryan McDonagh (6-1), Girardi (6-2), Kunitz (6-3), Coburn (5-2) and Ryan Callahan (5-2). All have recorded Game 7 wins over the Capitals with other teams.
* The Capitals will play in their 11th Game 7 since the beginning of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most among all teams in that span.
* Washington forwards Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin are set to make their 11th career Game 7 appearances, one shy of Boston's Zdeno Chara (12) for the most among active NHL players. In addition to Chara, only five other players in NHL history have appeared in more Game 7s: Patrick Roy (13), Scott Stevens (13), Glenn Anderson (12), Ken Daneyko (12) and Stephane Yelle (12).
* Washington forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, who enters Wednesday's game on a nine-game point streak (6-8--14, May 3-21), tallied the game-winner in the Capitals' most recent Game 7 victory, a 2-1 decision over the New York Islanders in the 2015 First Round.

Game 7 Trends

Of the 171 all-time Game 7s in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
* The team that scores first is 127-44 (.743), including a 1-1 record in 2018.
* Home teams own a 100-71 (.585) advantage, including a 1-1 record in 2018.
* Forty-one have required overtime (24.2%). Home teams have a 21-20 edge.

Team Game 7 Results

Tampa Bay Lightning (5-2)
5/26/16, Eastern Conference Final vs. Pittsburgh (TBL 1 at PIT 2)
5/29/15, Eastern Conference Final vs. NY Rangers (TBL 2 at NYR 0)
4/29/15, Eastern Conference First Round vs. Detroit (DET 0 at TBL 2)
5/27/11, Eastern Conference Final vs. Boston (TBL 0 at BOS 1)
4/27/11, Eastern Conference QF vs. Pittsburgh (TBL 1 at PIT 0)
6/7/04, Stanley Cup Final vs. Calgary (CGY 1 at TBL 2)
5/22/04, Eastern Conference Final vs. Philadelphia (PHI 1 at TBL 2)

Washington Capitals (4-11)

5/10/17, Eastern Conference Second Round vs. Pittsburgh (PIT 2 at WSH 0)
5/13/15, Eastern Conference Second Round vs. NY Rangers (WSH 1 at NYR 2, OT)
4/27/15, Eastern Conference First Round vs. NY Islanders (NYI 1 at WSH 2)
5/13/13, Eastern Conference QF vs. NY Rangers (NYR 5 at WSH 0)
5/12/12, Eastern Conference SF vs. NY Rangers (WSH 1 at NYR 2)
4/25/12, Eastern Conference QF vs. Boston (WSH 2 at BOS 1, OT)
4/28/10, Eastern Conference QF vs. Montreal (MTL 2 at WSH 1)
5/13/09, Eastern Conference SF vs. Pittsburgh (PIT 6 at WSH 2)
4/28/09, Eastern Conference QF vs. NY Rangers (NYR 1 at WSH 2)
4/22/08, Eastern Conference QF vs. Philadelphia (PHI 3 at WSH 2, OT)
5/18/95, Eastern Conference QF vs. Pittsburgh (WSH 0 at PIT 3)
5/1/92, Patrick Division SF vs. Pittsburgh (PIT 3 at WSH 1)
4/30/88, Patrick Division Final vs. New Jersey (NJD 3 at WSH 2)
4/16/88, Patrick Division SF vs. Philadelphia (PHI 4 at WSH 5, OT)
4/18/87, Patrick Division SF vs. NY Islanders (NYI 3 at WSH 2, 4OT)
\*Individual Game 7 Statistics\*