The Tampa Bay Lightning have come to DC, joined, appropriately, by a violent electrical storm dropping black sheets of rain all over the region. Tampa’s power play was ferocious in Game Three, scoring on their first two opportunities to earn a road win.
The Bolts got the scoring started with a pair of power-play goals, identical to one another except for scorer: Stamkos for the first, Kucherov for the second. Soon after the second goal, Victor Hedman struck at even strength. Brett Connolly busted Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid with a nice slapshot, but Brayden Point snuck a shot short-side to give Tampa a 4-1 lead after two periods. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored an impossible goal during 6-on-5 play to reduce the gap a bit late.
Bolts beat Caps 4-2. Caps lead the series 2-1.
- First, a request: please go easy on the broom kids. They’re just kids having fun. They didn’t blow any coverage or commit any bad penalties or miss any empty nets. They just got a little carried away with a silly gag. We won’t tolerate any personal attacks. If you make them, the you are the bad fans, not them.
- The Bolts have already scored five power-play goals this series. With such a deadly power play, it was imperative that the Caps stayed out of the penalty box. Instead, Braden Holtby got busted for tripping early, then Lars Eller got busted for a back-to-back pair of infractions. The first was closing his hand on the puck. I’m not sure Eller had a better option; his alternative would be to drop the puck between Holtby’s net and an attacking Tampa player. Whatever the excuse, those penalties and their resulting power plays were certainly the difference in Game Three.
- Even strength was a different story. The Caps and Bolts alternated in controlling play, and though the Bolts certainly got the more dangerous chances, the Caps weren’t outclassed generally. Had they tamped down on a couple turnovers and won an extra board battle, this could have been a lot closer.
- Brett Connolly was scratched late in last year’s playoffs so the Caps could run seven defensemen. That was dumb, but Connolly has scored four goals from the bottom six, including the lone marker on Tuesday.
- Michal Kempny was fined for a cross-check in Game Two. In Game Three, he cross-checked Tyler Johnson, sending Johnson down to the ice in pain.
- Anton Stralman boarded Tom Wilson in the first period. Stralman hit Wilson in the numbers and lifted into the hit. I suspect he’ll get some attention for supplemental discipline, but don’t expect a three-gamer.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin combined for 20 shots on goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy saved all but one of em.
- Qatar is paying to keep the DC Metro open late for Game Four. This is a curious move, intended I think to raise awareness for Qatar in America’s capital city – a bit like how UAE’s Etihad Airlines is a partner of Monumental Sports. The UAE and Qatar are bitter enemies, but they share one thing in common: backbreaking exploitation of their migrant worker populations. Consider my awareness raised. Thanks, DC!
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) May 16, 2018
My New Personal Concept of Hell of the nightÂ
You didn’t think it was gonna be that easy, did you? There’s a reason why Tampa won their division and were widely picked to win the Cup. They’re an excellent team. The Caps didn’t play bad overall, but a couple mistakes is all a team like Tampa needs to win. They’ve got that high-end scoring talent to punish the Caps for their goof-ups.
Simple solution: Make zero mistakes in Game Four.
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