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Last night, the Washington Capitals responded to losing the night before by beating their divisional rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Brian Pothier, with the game winning goal as well as an assist, also seemed to be responding to being a healthy scratch for the previous two games.
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The Lightning got on the board first with a goal by Paul Ranger less than five minutes into the first period. Goaltender Brent Johnson tried for a glove save, but the puck bounced off his glove, sailing over him & into the net. At 6:16, Tampa Bay's Martin StLouis was called for tripping. Just 32 seconds later, Lightning's Mathieu Darche was invited to keep StLouis company in the penalty box for knocking down Johnson in the crease. But, the Capitals failed to score in 65 seconds of 5 on 3 hockey. It was nice to see Pothier actually get physical a little bit later, when Tampa Bay's Filip Kuba knocked his stick out of his hands. Pothier promptly put Kuba down on the ice. This went unnoticed by the ref's amidst all the traffic in front of Washington's net. With 5:34 left in the first, Tomas Fleischmann got his fifth goal of the season when he put Alexander Semin's rebound past Johan Holmqvist. The period ended tied 1-1.
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Just eight seconds into the second period, the Cap's David Steckel bounced one in off the far post, putting Washington ahead by one. A couple minutes later, Tampa Bay's Vinny Prospal was rudely encouraged to leave Johnson's crease by Mike Green & a few other Capitals' players. Shortly after that, it was Vincent Lecavalier who took a drop pass from Prospal at the blue line, and sent a wrister five hole to even it back up. At 13:20, Washington's Alexander Ovechkin received an intentional two handed slash to his face from the Lightning's Kuba. The official gave Kuba two minutes for "high sticking". Tampa Bay's head coach John Tortorella made it clear he was unhappy that the obviously injured Ovechkin was allowed to stay on the ice when play resumed. Soon after play started, Ovechkin put a great hit on Lecavalier at the side wall. Then, Green was clotheslined in the Lightning end by Brad Lukowich with no call by the "ref's. The second period ended tied at 2-2 with the Cap's defence not allowing Tampa Bay to get a single shot off in the last ten minutes.
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About three & a half minutes into the third period, the Cap's got another Power Play opportunity with a high sticking call on Tampa Bay's Shane O'Brien. The Capitals spent almost the entire two minutes in the Lightning's end. With 17 seconds left on the PP, Pothier sent the puck in top shelf for the game winner.
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Sorry for posting this review so late. The laptop went down just before the game started, and I had to enter this post from a computer at work's office today. This was a great game for the Cap's. Although he has had some good games as a Cap, it was the first time I thought Pothier was impressive for an entire game. Let's keep it going guys.
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