The Washington Capitals lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of t-1 at Amalie Arena on Saturday night. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves in the defeat. The team’s tragic number until they get eliminated from 2023 Stanley Cup Playoff contention is now down to six points.
Washington’s Lines at Tampa Bay
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Craig Smith
Aliaksei Protas — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Alexander Alexeyev — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: D Matt Irwin
Injured: RW Connor Brown (ACL, 72nd, indefinite); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 76th, indefinite), LW Sonny Milano (upper-body, third, week-to-week)
Washington made no line changes from their 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
Tampa Bay’s Lines
Steven Stamkos — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel — Nick Paul — Ross Colton
Patrick Maroon — Anthony Cirelli — Alex Killorn
Tanner Jeannot — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Corey Perry
Victor Hedman — Nick Perbix
Mikhail Sergachev — Darren Raddysh
Ian Cole — Erik Cernak
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Brian Elliott
Scratched: D Zach Bogosian, D Hadyn Fleury, C Michael Eyssimont
Injured: N/A
First Period
Scoring
9:20, 1-0 Tampa Bay (PPG): Sergachev wristed a shot on net through a maze of players and it beat Kuemper under the arm after Fehervary blocked Stamkos’ one-timer from the left dot.
Sooooo influential on the power play 🤩 pic.twitter.com/SbYFoMQV0F
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 30, 2023
In a goal-mouth scramble, Cole found a loose puck at the top of the blue paint with an open net yawning before Kuemper sprawled across and gloved one.
19:57, 2-0: Stamkos ripped a wrister from the high slot over the glove of Kuemper off an offensive zone faceoff win.
CAP WITH THE BUZZER BEATER 🚨 pic.twitter.com/JERqDyPzYi
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 30, 2023
Stats:
Second Period
Oshie was not on the bench to start the period and did not return with an upper-body injury.
Here was Oshie’s last long shift. Looks like he took a bit of contact, a big collision with Sergachev then a hit from Raddysh.
A bit slow on the backcheck toward the end.
He had one last shift final seconds of the first for the last draw. Did not return after that.
(📹: NBCSW) pic.twitter.com/54IFLltw7c
— Sammi Silber (@sammisilber) March 31, 2023
Kuemper shut down Point with the left pad after Point wristed one from the left dot off of a cross-ice feed from Stamkos around the 14-minute mark.
Kuemps keepin’ us in it#ALLCAPS | @WeAreHII pic.twitter.com/gF5F1FDdBn
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 31, 2023
Scoring
16:10, 2-1: Smith swiveled a backhand off of the right pad of Vasilevskiy and in from below the goal-line after Mantha picked the puck up from the top, stepped in, and wristed a shot wide of the cage. Sandin has recorded 13 points (12 assists) in 13 games with Washington since making his team debut on March 4, which ranks third on the club (Strome: 17; Ovechkin: 15). Mantha has registered 19 points (13 assists) in 25 career games against Tampa Bay, the most points he has scored against a single opponent.
Craig Smith’s wraparound attempt banks in, putting Washington on the board near the end of the 2nd!#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/9yZ9bakR4V
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) March 31, 2023
Stats:
Third Period
Scoring
4:30, 3-1: After Kuemper turned away Cirelli’s wrister from the right dot and Cirelli grabbed the puck at center, skated in with speed, and hitthe breaks on Van Riemsdyk, Maroon was right there at the doorstep to tuck in the rebound.
Pat Maroon wins positioning at the top of the crease and buries the rebound on the rush, 3-1 Lightning!#GoBolts pic.twitter.com/SDsLRXRrfn
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) March 31, 2023
16:28, 4-1: Maroon backhanded one into an empty net in the crease after Kuemper thwarted Cirelli on a semi-breakaway.
We think we’ve seen this film before… pic.twitter.com/OFKkyAV87O
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 31, 2023
18:06, 5-1 (ENG): Cernak sent a puck down from center into an empty net.
Stats:
Current Eastern Conference Wild-Card Standings
Washington is now seven points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins (who have a game in hand) for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference; six behind the Florida Panthers (both teams have six games left) for the third; fall two behind the Ottawa Senators (one) for the fourth; and remain tied with the Buffalo Sabres (three) for the fifth.
Next game: Sunday vs. New York Rangers (1 PM ET, TNT)
By Harrison Brown