The Washington Capitals gave the dominant Tampa Bay Lightning a solid run for their money, before falling 6-3 after a couple of empty net strikes against. Could this be a preview of another Eastern Conference Final?
The Lightning out-shot the Caps 35 to 33.
- At five-on-five the Caps out-attempted the Lightning 45 to 37 and out-scoring chanced them 21 to 19. The second period was the Caps best as they out-attempted the Lightning 18 to 5, out-scoring chanced them 6 to 1, and out-high danger chanced them 2 to 0. I was really happy with the overall effort from the team and I think they deserved at least a point on the night.
- John Carlson scored his 12th goal of the season and after this game has been on the ice for 84 goals at five-on-five. That total is second to only Toronto’s Morgan Rielly (89).
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 47th and 48th goals of the season. Ho-hum. His 47th goal was his 246th career power play goal, tying him for fifth all time in the category with Phil Esposito. Ovi’s 131st career multi goal game since he entered the league is 47 more than the next on that list, Sidney Crosby. It also has him tied with Teemu Selanne for the eighth most in NHL history.
- Good news. The Penguins, Blue Jackets, and Islanders all also lost.
- Particularly great night from the second line, Dmitry Orlov, and Ovechkin.
- Congrats to Nick Jensen on his 200th career NHL game. He had quite the up and down night, but he showed why he’s going to play many more games in a Caps sweater over the next four years.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Lightning
Headline photo: Scott Audette
