The Washington Capitals made their way south to Florida to cap off this week with a two-game set against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers. First up was the Lightning who were seven points ahead of the Capitals in the Eastern Conference playoff race, holding down the first wild card spot.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel danced around the Lightning defense to get the Capitals on the board first. Connor McMichael stayed hot and doubled that lead toward the end of the first frame. Brandon Hagel broke through for Tampa early in the second but Anthony Mantha responded just moments later to restore the two-goal advantage.
Nick Paul and Tyler Motte scored two goals in just 24 seconds to stun the Capitals and tie the game. Rasmus Sandin struck with just under five minutes left in regulation to restore the Capitals’ lead. McMichael potted an empty netter to wrap things up.
Capitals beat Lightning 5-3!
- The Capitals had a fantastic road first period where they really got in on the forecheck and made the Lightning look slow. Felt like the fourth line really led the charge. While there were still some shaky moments in the defensive zone, they created more of those moments from Tampa in the offensive zone and that’s all you can ask for.
- Tom Wilson clearly came into this game knowing that he had absolutely no one to worry about on the other bench because he was running around doing whatever he wanted. He laid the hit on Haydn Fleury that created McMichael’s goal and then kabonged another Lightning player in his next shift. Feels like Wilson hasn’t been as involved physically as of late so the body contact from him was good to see.
- Connor McMichael has come alive of late after a long stretch where he was ice-cold offensively. His 11th and 12th goals of the season give him four tallies in his last two games and seven points (5g, 2a) in his last seven games. More of that, please.
Fun fact from tonight's game against the Lightning @thehersheybears pic.twitter.com/yDKkNK7NzU
— RMNB (@rmnb) February 23, 2024
- Another shutdown, super physical second period. I’m not sure if Tampa’s injury issues or something else is up with them but they looked terrible through 40 minutes. The Capitals also seem to be hitting their stride for the first time all season so that combo did not work out for the Lightning. Love to see that huge hit from Joel Edmundson at the final buzzer.
- The penalty kill came up huge at the end of the second to give Tampa no momentum going into the third. The Lightning came into Thursday night’s game operating at better than 30 percent on their power play this season. Without Nic Dowd, that’s a pretty valiant effort.
- I liked the job that Aliaksei Protas did filling in for Dowd on that fourth line. He was definitely helped by what I feel was one of Beck Malenstyn‘s best games of the season and Nicolas Aube-Kubel looking to make an impression after sitting out healthy for two straight. Still good to see from big Pro though against some really good centers on the Lightning.
- Alex Ovechkin grabbed an assist on McMichael’s empty netter to extend his point streak to 10 games. However, I don’t think Carbery liked what he was getting out of his top line because he switched things around a few times in that top-six group. We’ll see where that goes against the Panthers.
On this day in 1980, Team USA came from behind to top the Soviet Union and captured the second Olympic gold in our country's history two days later. 🥇🇺🇸
Recap, box score & more → https://t.co/XvUpSKBAsq pic.twitter.com/92q48E2XGh
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 22, 2024
- The Capitals let the game drift away in the third. All of a sudden Tampa was the more physical team and the Capitals shelled up a little too much. The penalty kill and Charlie Lindgren were still great though which really kept them in the fight.
- I have yet to be impressed with Ethan Bear once this season. That third-period spell where the Lightning tied the game up started by him getting absolutely cooked by Nick Paul.
- Really tough to watch TJ Oshie go off the ice like that. Those non-contact injuries tend to be the worst. Poor dude has fought through a ton.
No Joe B so here’s this from Ava, one of my favorite hockey Twitter follows.
remember that time the atlanta thrashers staged a high speed zamboni chase with their mascot to get people to buy season tickets pic.twitter.com/VTUzYG6NSd
— Ava (@avatarrant) February 22, 2024
The Capitals will next make the quick trip to Sunrise to take on the Panthers on Saturday. Let’s hope we maybe get to see a debut and perhaps a debut goal from Pierrick Dube.
