Lightning 2 - Capitals 3
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This game was a joy to watch. The Washington Capitals were a lively bunch tonight. And the Tampa Bay Lightning were hopping as well. Washington's defenceman Brian Pothier was back in the lineup, broken thumb in splint and all. The Capitals management gave Coach Bruce Boudreau a late Christmas present by officially naming him Head Coach today, removing the Interim tag. Then the team gave him another by beating Tampa Bay at Verizon Centre.
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Washington had a good first period, firing off 12 shots. A large improvement over their last outing, where their total for the whole game was only 16. However, it was Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier who started the scoring by knocking in his own rebound. The Caps had some nice scoring chances, including good efforts by Alexander Ovechkin and Tomas Fleischmann. But, it was David Steckel who got the Caps on the board first at 16:11, tying the game 1-1. It was his third NHL goal, all of which have been against Tampa Bay. Later on, Steckel made a nice play in Washington's end, stealing the puck and sending it back into Lightning territory. With less than a minute to go, Steckel barely missed on a bid for a second goal.
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At 5:33 into the second period, Tampa Bay's Brad Richards was called for holding on Pothier. During this Power Play, the Caps didn't score, but they had some nice chances. And an interference call was missed, as the Lightning's young goaltender Karri Ramo's stick blocked a shot or two while laying on the ice. He had somehow lost it, and was using Martin StLouis' at the time. A couple minutes later, a wild scrum was making things exciting in front of Washington's goal. There was lots of puck kicking by Tampa Bay and some really good flashy saves by netminder Olie Kolzig and other Caps players. About mid way through the period, Mike Green failed to dump the puck in deep, causing a breakaway for Lecavalier. Vincent's wrister sent the puck past Olie, putting Tampa Bay back ahead by one. With 2:18 left in the second period, after some excellent puck movement by the Caps, a wide open Pothier sent the puck whistling into the net via a very hard slapshot. The period ended all tied up 2-2.
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The third period was full of exciting play as well. At one point, the Caps won two draws in a row, with the puck going directly to Ovechkin both times. The first time, Ovie's hard slapshot was denied. Unfortunately, the second time he fanned on his attempt. Later on during a Lightning PP, Steckel and Flash (Fleischmann) worked well together, clearing the puck out of the Cap's end a few times. With about six minutes left, Green took the puck coast to coast. Alexander Semin then made some amazing moves, only to have his effort denied. Finally, with about three minutes left in regulation, the Capital's Matt Bradley got the game winning goal. The goal had to be reviewed, as there was a lot of activity going on at the time, including the net being knocked from it's moorings. The original shot was from Steckel, but the puck went off Ramo's glove, then pinballed to Bradley, then StLouis, then Filip Kuba and then into the net. Then, in one of those rare instances for Washington, the review ended with the correct call - game winning goal for Bradley and the Caps.
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This really was an exciting game to watch. Everybody pitched in. It wasn't a high scoring game. But, the entire team put forth a great effort. Much better than the last couple games. The guys should be proud of themselves.
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