Maroon scores twice, Lightning gain in Atlantic with win against Capitals

TAMPA --Pat Maroon scored twice in the third period for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-1 win against the Washington Capitals at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn each had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for the Lightning (44-26-6), who moved within four points of the Toronto Maple Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division. Toronto has played two fewer games.
"We're being physical, and that's not just hits," Maroon said. "It's winning puck battles in the [defensive] zone. We weren't closing fast enough, and we weren't heavy enough. That's our team. We have to be hard on pucks. We're finding our identity now. We have all the high-end skill, but we have to defend first."

Craig Smith scored, and Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves for the Capitals (34-33-9), who have lost six of seven (1-4-2), including a 2-1 shootout defeat against the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
Washington is seven points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have one game in hand, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 on Thursday.
"Our first period was tough, that wasn't the way we wanted to start," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "We had a much better second period and gave ourselves a chance going into the third, but the start was no good. We weren't quick enough. I liked the way we played in the second period, but at the end of the night we lost the game."
Killorn gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 9:20 of the first period, a redirection of a shot from Mikhail Sergachev.
Stamkos extended the lead to 2-0 at 19:57 with a shot from a high slot off a face-off win by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
"We want to be a hard team to play against," Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli said. "We want to limit chances and opportunities, especially 5-on-5 chances. We've been great over the past few games and we have to keep building on that. We have to bring it up to another level."

Smith cut it to 2-1 at 16:10 of the second period when he tucked the puck past Vasilevskiy on a wraparound from behind the net.
"There's a certain way we have to play," Smith said. "We have to stick with it and find ways to be creative. We have good players here. No one here is giving up. There's no quit here.
Maroon pushed the Lightning lead to 3-1 at 4:30 of the third when he stuffed in a rebound off a shot from Cirelli, then made it 4-1 at 16:28 with another putback in front of the net.
"Anytime you're getting those goals two feet from the net you're doing something right and putting yourself in the right area," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "It's good for Patty to get a couple there."

Erik Cernak scored short-handed into an empty net at 18:06 for the 5-1 final.
"We're doing the little things. When our emotions are high and we're playing like that, it's good," Cirelli said. "Right now we are focusing on one game at a time and playing like we have over these past three."
NOTES: Capitals forward T.J. Oshie left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury. Laviolette said Oshie "is banged up". ... Cirelli had two assists after going four games without a point. ... It was Maroon's first multigoal game since Nov. 9, 2019, when he scored twice against the Buffalo Sabres. … Stamkos has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in the past eight games. … Sergachev got his 187th assist to tie Dan Boyle for second by a defenseman in Tampa Bay history. Victor Hedman has 506. … Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin had a season-high 11 hits but was minus-3 in 21:09 of ice time. Washington forwards Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson, and defenseman John Carlson were also minus-3.