The Washington Capitals traveled home for the back half of their back-to-back to meet a Tampa Bay Lightning team that they had dispatched of recently in front of the Caps dads and mentors. Could they do said dispatching again in this season series finale?
Radko Gudas’ first goal for the Caps in the second period kicked off tonight’s scoring. Nikita Kucherov found a good bounce and beat Braden Holtby to tie the game. Dmitry Orlov wired home a slap shot to give the Caps the lead. Nic Dowd hardworking empty netter.
Caps beat Lightning 3-1!
- I thought the Caps were the clear better squad at even strength in the first. It may not show on the stat sheet in terms of the scoring chances for and against (which I disagree with), but I thought it was clear which netminder had to work harder to keep the game scoreless.
- The Caps first power play was a master class in puck retention and cycling by the first unit. They spent basically the entire two minutes in the offensive zone and were only foiled by some bad luck and some bad ice.
- Said ice was horrendous because Georgetown basketball played on the floor literally earlier today. I find that ridiculously stupid, always have, always will. It is a home ice disadvantage for a team like the Caps. I hope maybe one day the Hoyas use some of that dough, build their own place, and get the hell out.
simplyy havinggg a wonderfulllll christmas time pic.twitter.com/VIBkALzLzd
— Biscuit (@CapsPup) December 22, 2019
- I thought the Caps were even better in the second, holding the Lightning to only 12 shots through forty minutes. Some good goaltending from the away side and that same bad ice is what kept this one only a one goal advantage.
- Scary moment in the second as TJ Oshie was hooked from behind (no call) and then stumbled face first into Mikhail Sergachev‘s elbow. Oshie stayed down for a concerning amount of time for someone with the head injury history he has, before heading straight to the locker room. He thankfully returned only after missing a couple shifts.
- Big Radko Gudas with his first goal for the Caps to open the scoring. Congrats, ya big lug!
- Does the Lightning coaching staff really want Nikita Kucherov cherry picking every single shift like he seems to have taken a liking to? Dude seems disinterested in anything defensive this season.
https://twitter.com/BossBabyYoda/status/1208471175682244608
- Third period was their weakest, but not even “bad” per se. A bad bounce and a lot of dumb penalties cost them. Good penalty killing saved them. Braden Holtby in particular was utterly fantastic with the Caps down a man or two.
- I thought the refs were rather poor to say the least and I’m not one to continuously beleaguer officiating. Just inconsistent with what they were calling and what they were letting go and I thought it was mainly affecting the Caps negatively in that regard.
- Felt like John Carlson was the weak link on the power play. Rare lackadaisical and wasteful night from him, IMO. That late penalty was something.
Season's Greetings in plum #JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsBolts pic.twitter.com/Pq8uMkJOyM
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) December 22, 2019
The next one for the Caps is on Monday night in Boston. It’s the last game before the four day Christmas break!
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Lightning
Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington
