Photo: @Capitals/Twitter
The Washington Capitals fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 6-3 Sunday night at Amalie Arena. The loss dropped the Capitals’ record to 7-8-2 and 16 points on the season. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made five saves in the first period while Charlie Lindgren took over for the remainder of the game, making 24 saves in the loss.
Lines & Pairs
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Dylan Strome — Marcus Johansson
Connor McMichael – Lars Eller – Anthony Mantha
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Notes: McMichael returned to the lineup in place of the suspended right-winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel (first of a three-games). Head coach Peter Laviolette, who entered the league’s COVID protocol on Friday, missed his second-consecutive game and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy continued head coaching duties in the interim.
Scratches: Left-wing Joe Snively and defenseman Alex Alexeyev
Injuries: Right-wing Tom Wilson (ACL), center Nicklas Backstrom (hip), center Carl Hagelin (hip), right-wing Connor Brown (ACL), right-wing T.J. Oshie (lower-body), right-wing Beck Malenstyn (finger), and defenseman Dmitry Orlov (lower-body)
First Period
Just 1:23 into the opening frame, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev gave the Lightning an early 1-0 lead.
Cutting through traffic to get us on the board! pic.twitter.com/HGQnQAfibq
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) November 14, 2022
Right-wing Nikita Kucherov would extend the Lightning’s lead, 2-0, at the 8:19 mark on a man advantage.
TO THE MOOOOON 🚀 pic.twitter.com/quhETU6DHZ
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) November 14, 2022
Nearly three minutes later, Tampa Bay would get another—defenseman Nick Perbix would make it a 3-0 game.
Whatever it takes! pic.twitter.com/vxMMtvSO6q
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) November 14, 2022
Sergachev would pot his second goal of the night to make it 4-0 during a power-play at the 16:22 mark.
SHEEEEEESH 🥵 pic.twitter.com/zGmcySxAuA
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) November 14, 2022
Quick Stats
SOG: 9-4 Lightning
Face-Off Win %: 61% (Lightning), 39% (Capitals)
Hits: 22-15 Capitals
Second Period
In net, Lindgren replaced Kuemper, who gave up four goals in the first twenty minutes.
The Capitals would finally get on the board from Sheary (6) to make it a 4-1 game late in the middle frame. Kuznetsov (11) and Mantha (4) assisted.
Sheary snipe pic.twitter.com/DnNNwnUKfG
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 14, 2022
Quick Stats
Total SOG: 18-11 Lightning
Face-Off Win %: 51% (Capitals), 49% (Lightning)
Total Hits: 32-25 Capitals
Third Period
Left-wing Cole Koepke would continue to extend Tampa’s lead, 5-1, at the 13:15 mark.
Eller (3) would give the Capitals a late tally to make it a 5-2 game. Johansson (4) and van Riemsdyk (4) had the helpers.
Left-wing Nicholas Paul gave the Lightning a 6-2 lead with an empty-net goal.
Hathway (2) would chip in for the Capitals to make it 6-3 with just shy of two minutes to go. Dowd (3) had the assist.
That would be the final score.
Quick Stats
Total SOG: 35-21 Lightning
Face-Off Win %: 53% (Capitals), 47% (Lightning)
Total Hits: 44-38 Capitals
Notes Through the Game
- Washington’s power play was 0-for-6 tonight and 0-for-16 in its last three games.
- Tonight marked Sheary’s second-straight game with a goal and his six goals in 17 games this season rank second on the Capitals (Ovechkin: 8).
- Kuznetsov now leads the team with 11 assists all of which have been primary assists.
- Mantha has recorded three points (1g, 2a) in his last two games.
- Eller has recorded two points (1g, 1a) in his last two games.
- Kuznetsov recorded his 354th career assist against Tampa Bay, passing Peter Bondra (353) for the ninth-most assists in franchise history.
The Capitals continue their three-game road trip clashing next with the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena on Tuesday. NBC Sports Washington will have the coverage beginning at 7 PM ET.
By Della Young
Tampa radio announcers felt Caps D was more at fault for Tampa’s early lead rather than Darcy. But Chuckie was strong in replacement. I really felt Tampa was not going to score again.
5on5 TOI: Mantha was low with 9:19 then MCM with 9:42, MoJo 9:51, and Milano 9:54. Minutes much much more even than I have seen from the Caps. Pat Maroon only had 9:46 but he did have 9 minutes in the Pit of Misery.
So it’s not Lavi?
The numbers are much more even than I have seen under Lavi. Could be the high PIM for both teams? Or maybe it is the guy behind the bench. Again, those were 5on5 numbers not TOI.
Honest assessment. But why were they so unready to play? OK, NAK was suspended, but they didn’t have a hard trip, it’s the first game of the trip, no word of flu or COVID amongst the players. Lavi has been out for days. Why so unready?
I put part of sleepy first period on coaches. They are also responsible for making sure team is ready to play.
NHL minimum would be pretty good motivation for me. I can see illness or injury, Xs and Os, subs and new linemates or positions, or outside factors (long trip, back to back, bubble) but not being motivated enough to go out and do your job has always puzzled me.
Frustrating, Fyre. The last two periods were good enough to win the game.
They were. It was the same sort of total breakdown that Tampa had Friday.
No Coop comments on Bolts radio, am seeing if he shows up on NHL’s site.
a pervasive attitude among some at least. How and why it’s there is important. Only a real good coach is capable of addressing it properly. Trotz went through this in his go around, and addressed it more than successfully.
Agree, Jonathan. Sometimes I think “people management” is the biggest part of a head coaching job.
Other than first period, Caps did fairly well. 8 goals on Vasilevskiy in 2 games is pretty good.
Vasy this year has been very, very human. He is 48th in Save% (.898) and 42nd in GAA (3.10 average). Not only are Darcy and Chuck ahead of him but so are Sammy and Vee.
Chuck looked good. I actually have liked him better this year than Darcy. Everything in that video is what the Bolts said after Friday’s game. Coop’s presser tonight was all about Bolts and their reaction to Friday’s dismal performance, no mention of Caps’ problems tonight.
Talk about not being ready to play. In Boston Canucks came out in road whites and Bruins came out in retro whites. Seems they weren’t supposed to wear them until next week. Bruins went back in, changed, and won the game. But warmup photo sure looked funny.
Any idea why Joe Snively has been a healthy scratch for so many games now?
No idea, Diann, it’s typical of Laviolette to go with who he feels is best suited for the game, and he doesn’t do much regular cycling in of other players on a regular basis, to keep them fresh, like many other coaches do. Maybe tomorrow night.
Do we know that Lavi will be behind the bench in Sunrise?
Lavi should fly!
One step forward….one step back.