Playoffs clinched: Caps beat Lightning 5-3

March 18, 2017 9:51 pm

Chris From the Comments came into this game having recapped five straight Capitals losses. Anything that I touch with this team has apparently turned to the opposite of gold, until Saturday night. The curse has been lifted.

TJ Oshie scored early after sustained zone time on the man advantage. Oshbabe doubled his tally some time after with a 2 on 1 strike at even strength. Great feeds from Marcus Johansson and Alex Ovechkin. Nikita Kucherov responded with a power play marker of his own to half the lead and Alex Killorn scored mere seconds later to level the game at two.

Second period? Nothin’ for ya.

Justin Williams tipped home a Niskanen blast for the Capitals third just after a Caps man advantage had expired. John Carlson then extended the lead to two, swatting a puck out of mid-air as the Caps had Braden Holtby pulled on a delayed penalty call. Kucherov tallied late in the third to give the Caps a scare, but Oshie hit the empty net for his hat trick to seal things.

Caps beat Lightning 5-3!

The Tampa Bay Lightning have a defenseman with a last name that sounds like the dog breed Dachshund. Him and Jay Beagle should have a doggy play date. Maybe Jay can teach him that embellishing in the NHL isn’t cool?
Marcus Johansson only skated five shifts in the first period, leaving the game with an illness. The Swedish forward dished out a primary assist with the flu or something. If I tried to play a hockey game with the flu, I would die. Not even probably die, definitely die.
Andre Burakovsky returned to the lineup after breaking his hand seemingly forever ago and also returned to the normal slaying of opposition that we are used to. He finished +12 shot attempts wise and had an assist on Justin Williams‘ goal.
TJ Oshie had a three goal night and with those three goals topped Alex Ovechkin for the team lead in that category. No one other than Ovechkin has led the Caps in goals since Robert Lang did in 2003-2004.
Nicklas Backstrom had another multi-point game, giving him 75 points on the year and leapfrogging him back into the top 5 scoring wise in the league.
Justin Williams‘ tip-in goal was his 20th of the season giving the Capitals five different twenty goal scorers.
The top line was excellent. All three forwards came in at around 60%CF possession wise and created numerous scoring chances. Backstrom and Oshie ended the night with eight combined points.
Barry Trotz said this was a must win game and outside of a bad second half of the second period, the team really responded. Once they took the lead by two in the third, the Lightning gave Braden Holtby little to no trouble for the rest of the period.
100 points and the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot!