Capitals steal the thunder from Lightning in series opener
Ovechkin, Beagle strike twice in space of three minutes to seal 4-2 win
Alex Ovechkin and Jay Beagle scored in a threeminute span straddling the first and second periods as the Washington Capitals bamboozled the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 in the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Capitals seized control of Friday’s contest on a bizarre sequence that included a Tampa goal waived off for a too-manymen-on-the-ice penalty.
Just two seconds later, the Capitals scored on the powerplay in front of a crowd of 19,090 at Tampa’s Amalie Arena.
So instead of the game being tied 1-1, Washington took a 2-0 lead into the intermission on Ovechkin’s powerplay goal and then jumped out to a 3-0 cushion when Beagle scored, only 2:40 into the second period.
“We didn’t give them much,” said Ovechkin, who is playing in the first Conference finals of his storied career.
Game two of the best-of-seven NHL series is in Tampa today.
Czech defenceman Michal Kempny, with the first of the game and his first of the postseason, and Lars Eller, of Denmark, also scored for Washington, a team playing their first NHL semi-final series in two decades.
The Lightning are in the Conference final for the third time in four years but it didn’t look like it on Friday as they pulled starting goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy at the end of the second period with the score 4-0.
Steven Stamkos, on the power play, and Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning in the third period.