Capitals defeat Lightning, move into 2nd wild card in East

WASHINGTON -- Sonny Milano scored two goals, and the Washington Capitals moved into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

John Carlson and Nic Dowd also scored for the Capitals (38-31-11), who have won two of three. Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves.

“I think he's just a gamer,” Carlson said of Lindgren. “When the stakes are high, when the chips are on the table, he seems to come up big all the time and we wouldn't even be close to where we are right now vying for a playoff spot without him.”

The Capitals are tied with the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card, one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Philadelphia has played one more game, and Washington owns the tiebreaker over Detroit (30 regulations wins versus 27).

“Everything matters right now, every single moment,” Lindgren said. “It's certainly something that none of us are taking for granted. We realize how fun this is playing in environments like these, and it's been an absolute blast. We've got two games here left and obviously just lay it all out there.”

Anthony Duclair and Brandon Hagel scored for the Lightning (44-28-8), who have lost three of four (1-2-1). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves.

“I think we just could have been a little more desperate,” Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh said. “[The Capitals] are trying to get into the playoffs and they played right until the end and we kind of let up a little bit and they took some momentum and they capitalized.”

Tampa Bay will enter the playoffs as the first wild card in the East. 

“These last two are just going to be all about details and the little things and doing things the right way because when playoffs come, there’s not much room to make mistakes,” Hagel said.

Carlson gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal at 8:29 of the third period, scoring on a high wrist shot from the right circle off a pass from Dylan Strome shortly after a 5-on-3 advantage ended.

“To not be deterred just because we didn’t score on the 5-on-3 … to not just throw in the towel, it’s a big, big moment in that game,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “Even though we don’t score on that 5-on-3, to find that one on the back half was obviously the difference.”

Dowd knocked in a loose puck in front at 16:46 for the 4-2 final.

“There was 20 minutes to play, and the game was tied, so dig in here for a bit,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “And we just made some mental errors. One was on the penalty and then the fourth goal is you just can’t make the plays we made in the D-zone and allow that kind of stuff to happen.”

Milano gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 9:56 of the first period. Max Pacioretty’s shot was deflected by Raddysh and went to Milano, who slid a backhand past Vasilevskiy.

Duclair tied the score 1-1 at 13:06. Raddysh’s shot from the right point was redirected by Brayden Point and deflected in off Duclair in front.

Milano made it 2-1 at 14:00. Vasilevskiy tried to clear a loose puck in front of the net but it went right to Milano in the low slot.

Hagel tied it 2-2 at 16:24, receiving a pass from Steven Stamkos and lifting a backhand over Lindgren’s left shoulder from the right circle.

Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen was taken from the ice on a stretcher at 18:21 of the first period. Jensen was hit hard into the boards at center ice by Lightning forward Michael Eyssimont as he attempted to dump the puck. No penalty was assessed on the play.

“Scary situation,” Carbery said. “When you see someone like that stretchered off, you’re thinking the worst-case situation, and he’s doing better. He walked out of the building with his family tonight. Didn’t go to the hospital. So that was very, very positive. Obviously, he’s going to be out, but good that he was able to walk out of here with his family.”

NOTES: Carlson scored his 150th NHL goal and passed Kevin Hatcher for the most goals by a defenseman in Capitals history. … Strome set a career high with 66 points (27 goals, 39 assists). … Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had his eight-game point streak (18 points; two goals, 16 assists) and five-game multi-assist streak end.