Feisty Capitals pound Lightning, force Game 7
The Capitals made no apologies for taking the body and grinding out a physical 3- 0 victory Monday night against the visiting Lightning that tied the playoff series and set up a deciding Game 7. T. J. Oshie had a goal on the power play and into an empty net, Smith- Pelly scored a back- breaker and Braden Holtby stopped all 24 shots, but it was the bruising style that kept the Capitals alive and could still pay more dividends.
“You’ve got to wear them down,” SmithPelly said. “Every game, if guys are going to be playing 25, 30 minutes, it’s tough when you’re getting hit every single shift. We’ve been on the body all game and all series. If it shows up in Game 7 where guys are starting to get tired, then it was all worth it.” Game 7 is Wednesday night at Tampa Bay. Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson and Brooks Orpik led the charge in the grueling Game 6, throwing their bodies around all night like human wrecking balls. Orpik separated Cedric Paquette from the puck twice on one shift, Ovechkin leveled rookie Yanni Gourde and Wilson was his usual self, dishing out a handful of crushing body checks.
The Capitals outhit the Lightning 39- 19 and outshot them 34- 24, bruising and battering them all over the ice.
“It’s desperation, really,” Orpik said. “You try to empty the tank as much as you can. That’s probably one area where we have an edge is the size and physical play.”
That edge was noticeable well before Oshie’s power- play goal 15: 12 into the second period. While Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was again on top of his game in stopping 31 of 33 shots, Orpik said the Capitals wanted to give back to fans for their energy and did so by laying out Lightning players.
From Wilson’s big hit on Paquette on his first shift through the time Smith- Pelly scored with 9: 58 left, the physical play took a toll on the Lightning.
NOTES: The Blackhawks signed German forward Dominik Kahun, Finnish goaltender Kevin Lankinen, Swedish defenseman Lucas Carlsson and defenseman Darren Raddysh to entry- level contracts.
◆ The Wild hired Paul Fenton as their general manager. He spent the last 12 years as the assistant GM for the Predators.
◆ The Islanders reportedly hired former Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello to run the team’s hockey operations.
◆ The Blues’ arena is changing names from the Scottrade Center to the Enterprise Center, effective July 1.