Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena on Saturday night in overtime by a score of 2-1. The win-loss brings their record to 1-0-1 on the young 2021-22 season.

LINEUPS

The Capitals started Vitek Vanecek (1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .958 Save Percentage) in net, while the Lightning countered with Andrei Vasilevskiy (1-1-0, 4.50 GAA, .845 Save Percentage). Rookie Hendrix Lapierre, who scored his first NHL goal in his first game and the season opener on October 13, suited up once more in Game 2 for both he and the Capitals.

Lineys! #CapsBolts pic.twitter.com/aAmkGJrKjv

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 16, 2021

Lightning in warmup (vs. Capitals):

Palat-Point-Kucherov
Killorn-Cirelli-Stamkos
Maroon-Colton-Perry
Katchouk-Bellemare-Joseph

Hedman-Rutta
McDonagh-Cernak
Sergachev-Sustr

Vasilevskiy (vs. Vanecek)

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 16, 2021

FIRST PERIOD

The Caps received the game’s first power play opportunity less than five minutes into the game when Tampa Bay forward Alex Killorn was called for hooking at 3:41. The home team would fail to convert on the man-advantage.

The period saw back-and-forth action until late in the period with 2:10 left on the clock, when a rush by the Lightning ended with the puck initially seeming to deflect off the glass in front of Vitek Vanecek before being tucked home by the Lightning, however, a Coach’s Challenge by Capitals bench boss Peter Laviolette saw the puck ruled out of play. The frame ended with the Caps ahead in shots 10-4.

chugga chugga pic.twitter.com/Kan3cEvIvy

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 16, 2021

SECOND PERIOD

The Bolts put pressure on the hosts early in the second, though strong play from Vanecek in goal held the Lightning off the board.

🗣 V 🗣 V pic.twitter.com/rSeSkN7fvs

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 17, 2021

The Lightning continued to pile on the opportunities as the period went on, and time after time Vanecek came up big to keep the contest knotted at 0-0. The Capitals would see their and the night’s second power play with 6:35 left in the second frame, with Tampa Bay’s Ross Colton sent off for cross-checking. Once more, the Lightning penalty killers would thwart the Caps’ top guns while down a man. Just over three minutes after Colton was handed an infraction, Capitals forward Carl Hagelin was called for holding. The home team would manage to kill off the penalty.

Just moments after Hagelin exited the box, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, fresh off the bench, took the puck and fired the puck past Vasilevskiy, notching his third goal of the season, assisted by Trevor van Riemsdyk and Tom Wilson at the 18:51 mark. Just 14 seconds later, it appeared as though Ovechkin had scored his second of the night, however official review determined the puck did not fully cross the goal-line.

Shake rattle and he’s on a roll! pic.twitter.com/mIBtuVinXz

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 17, 2021

SO. CLOSE. 😩 pic.twitter.com/AKNOrhk8oj

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 17, 2021

The period ended with the Caps ahead by one, and in shots 18-14. The two teams were even in hits 16-16, and the Lightning ahead in blocked shots 10-8.

THIRD PERIOD

The third frame opened with high-flying action from both teams, including a nifty move that result in Ovechkin getting a backhand shot on Vasilevskiy. At the 4:23 mark of the third, Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev fired his first goal of the 2021-22 season from the point past Vanecek, on assists from Steven Stamkos and Erik Cernak; the score knotted the two teams at 1-1.

This one counts. 😏 pic.twitter.com/nCldpLntb9

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 17, 2021

The two teams continued to trade chances throughout a largely uneventful third. Midway through the frame, Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov collided with Garnet Hathaway, and headed to the dressing room, and did not return. The Capitals were given their third man-advantage of the game with just over five minutes left in the contest. Despite some good looks, the Bolts once again stopped the Caps from lighting the lamp. The two teams were unable to score in the final minutes of regulation, sending the game to overtime.

OVERTIME

The overtime period would see the Capitals get their’ fourth power play, after Mikhail Sergachev was called for cross-checking the Capitals’ Evgeny Kuznetsov with 3:39 left in the sudden death frame. Despite pressure on the Bolts, the Capitals would be unable to crack their egg on the man-advantage. With 15 seconds left in the period, Lightning Steven Stamkos scored his third goal of the season to lift Tampa Bay over the Caps.

The teams finished with the Capitals having the edge in Shots with 33-24, while the visiting Lightning held the edge, winning 52% of the faceoffs. The two clubs combined to go 0/5 on the power play, with the Caps failing to convert on four extra=man chances.

SHAVINGS

• With his third goal of the 2021-22 season in just the first two games of the season, Alex Ovechkin became just the second player in the history of the NHL to score three or more goals in his team’s first two games of a season on four different occasions.
• In his 800th career NHL game, Capitals’ Center Lars Eller skated 21:52, and finished with two shots on goal, and a minus-1 rating.

Firing in career goal #733 to put his @Capitals up 1-0 vs TB tonight, Alex Ovechkin is just the 2nd player in NHL history to score 3+ goals through their team’s first 2 games of a season on 4 different occasions (also 2009-10, 2013-14 & ’17-18). Other: Babe Dye (1920-23, 1925-26) pic.twitter.com/f89hPUyCar

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) October 17, 2021

By Michael Fleetwood