CONFIDENT CAPS RIDE WAVE OF MOMENTUM TO GAME 1 WIN
Ovechkin and Co. dominant against Lightning in series opener in Tampa
Sometimes it’s about giving 110 per cent. Or something like that.
After being told Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said his team needed to increase their energy level by five per cent from the second round to the Eastern Conference final, Alex Ovechkin was asked how the Washington Capitals planned to respond.
Simple, he said: “We have to elevate 10 per cent. And we’re going to do that.”
Cliches aside, the Capitals followed through on that promise. If there was any concern this team was content with having reached the Eastern Conference final for the first time in 20 years, Washington put it to rest in a dominating 4-2 win against Tampa Bay in Game 1. This was a statement win. And the statement might have been to themselves more than the Lightning.
“Our goal wasn’t just to get this far,” said Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, who made 18 saves in likely his easiest win of the postseason.
Following an emotional second-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this week — the first time Ovechkin gained the upper hand on Sidney Crosby — the talk had been about how the Capitals might have emptied the tank.
If anything, that win might have had the opposite effect.
This didn’t look like a team running on fumes. Instead, the Capitals looked calm and in control, as though getting over their post-season hump lifted a giant weight from the players’ shoulders. In particular, Ovechkin played with the freedom of a man who had been waiting his entire career for this moment.
The Washington captain, who as the gap-toothed face of the franchise had probably worn the previous post-season disappointments more so than any other player, had one of his best games of this year’s playoffs. He provided a screen on the first goal, scored the second on an absolute rocket and then picked up an assist on the fourth.
The rest of the team followed his lead.
From the opening faceoff, the Capitals dominated the offensive zone, outshooting and outchancing the Lightning. At the 7:28 mark, they were rewarded for their effort. A long-range wrist shot from defenceman Michal Kempny found its way through a maze of bodies and beat goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to give Washington a 1-0 lead.
At the other end, the Lightning looked sluggish and out of sync. Their chances were few and far between. The one time they found the back of the net, the result was a no-goal and a toomany-men penalty.
It was a pivotal moment. After a Washington giveaway, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov was sprung for a breakaway, in which he beat Holtby with a gorgeous deke. But the goal was quickly waved off because the Lightning had too many men on the ice. Instead of it being a tie game, the Capitals were given a power play and took a 2-0 lead on a onetimer from Ovechkin.
The Capitals, who outshot the Lightning 25-10 through 40 minutes, kept pouring it on in the second period.
Jay Beagle made it 3-0 on a broken passing play. And four minutes later, Washington essentially chased Vasilevskiy from the net when Ovechkin fanned on a shot that landed on Lars Eller’s stick.
The Lightning, who began the third period with Louis Domingue replacing Vasilevskiy, finally got on the scoreboard on a Steven Stamkos slap shot. Ondrej Palat then made it a twogoal game with seven minutes remaining.
But by then, the game was over.