Photo: X/@Capitals
The Washington Capitals downed the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3, Thursday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The victory improves Washington’s record to 26-21-8 (60 points) on the season.
The Capitals grabbed an early lead on a nifty backhander by Nicolas Aube-Kubel less than three minutes into the contest and Connor McMichael added his third goal in four periods for a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
The Lightning closed the gap to a goal midway through the second period but the Capitals quickly answered less than three minutes later on Anthony Mantha’s 18th goal of the season to make it 3-1 at the second intermission.
The Lightning closed the gap to a goal early in the final frame and tied the game 24 seconds later, making it 3-3 just three minutes into the third period. But the Capitals answered late on Rasmus Sandin’s third goal of the season and Connor McMichael added an empty net goal to make it 5-3, the final.
LINEUP
Charlie Lindgren (11-8-4, 2.62 GAA, .915 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Capitals. Andrei Vasilevskiy (19-13-0, 2.95 GAA, .898 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Lightning. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – T.J. Oshie
Anthony Mantha – Connor McMichael – Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty – Mike Sgarbossa – Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn – Aliaksei Protas – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Trevor van Riemsdyk – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Nick Jensen
Joel Edmundson – Ethan Bear
Charlie Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratches: Nic Dowd (upper body injury, day-to-day), Pierrick Dube, Alex Alexeyev, Nicklas Backstrom (hip).
1ST PERIOD
The Capitals opened the scoring early in the first period on a close-range backhander from Nicolas Aube-Kubel (6) at 2:30 of the frame. Beck Malenstyn (9) had the lone helper.
NAK dancin’ and scorin’ pic.twitter.com/ORMlbXCAbX
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 23, 2024
They stretched their lead to 2-0 on Connor McMichael’s (11) third goal in the last two games at 16:19. Joel Edmundson (4) and Tom Wilson (10) had the helpers.
Make that three goals in the past two games for Mikey pic.twitter.com/9Mv6iLz7ao
The Ligh— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 23, 2024
The Capitals held the 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Lightning led in five-on-five shot attempts, 19-15. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 15-7 in the second period.
2ND PERIOD
The Lightning cut the Capitals lead to one midway through the middle frame on a shot from the left-slot by Brandon Hagel (21) at 9:16.
Never tell Hagel the odds. 😤 pic.twitter.com/ojZW2xecSb
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 23, 2024
But the Capitals restored their two-goal lead less than three minutes later on Anthony Mantha’s 18th goal of the season at 12:14. Dylan Strome (19) and T.J. Oshie (8) had the assists.
Mo picked that Stromer feed flawlessly pic.twitter.com/0u27bZX0cd
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 23, 2024
The Capitals held the 3-1 lead into the second intermission. The Capitals doubled up the Bolts in five-on-five shot attempts, 15-7 in the middle frame and led in high-danger chances, 5-0 and xGF 1.35 to .72 after two periods.
3RD PERIOD
The Lightning made it 3-2 early in the third period on Nicholas Paul’s 15th goal of the season at 2:42. The
The only way to describe this is…🤌 pic.twitter.com/h5sgA3bKPx
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 23, 2024
The Lightning tied the game less than a minute later on Tyler Motte’s 5th goal of the season at 3:06.
Right on target🎯 pic.twitter.com/5kycdl87Y2
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 23, 2024
T.J. Oshie left the game late in the third period on a non-contact play. He did not return.
TJ Oshie had to be helped off the ice with an apparent non-contact injury pic.twitter.com/DoIFfl9cXo
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 23, 2024
The Capitals regained the lead on Rasmus Sandin’s third goal of the season at 15:01. Aliaksei Protas (19) and Dylan Strome (20) had the helpers.
What a shot, Sandman pic.twitter.com/VZlFsBC6Gx
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 23, 2024
Connor McMichael (12) added an empty net goal to make it 5-3, the final. It was McMichael’s second consecutive two-goal game. Alex Ovechkin (26) and Tom Wilson (11) had the assists. The assist extended Ovechkin’s points-streak to 10 games.
SHAVINGS (From Capitals PR)
- Beck Malenstyn recorded the primary assist on Aube-Kubel’s goal, his ninth assist of the season. Malenstyn has recorded three points (1g, 2a) in his last six games.
- Anthony Mantha scored his 18th goal of the season to put the Capitals ahead 3-1. Seventeen of Mantha’s 18 goals have come at five-on-five, which leads Washington.
- Dylan Strome tallied his 19th assist of the season on Mantha’s goal, extending his point streak to three games (1g, 4a). Strome, who has recorded 40 points (21g, 19a) in 55 games, has reached the 40-point mark for the third consecutive season and the fourth time in his career.
- T.J. Oshie was credited with the secondary assist on Mantha’s goal, his eighth assist of the season. Oshie’s 35 points (16g, 19a) in 27 career games against the Lightning are the most he has registered against one franchise.
- Connor McMichael scored his second goal of the game on an empty-net to make it 5-3. It marks McMichael’s second-straight multi-goal game and his fifth goal in his last four games dating back to Feb. 13 vs. Colorado.
- Tom Wilson was credited with the secondary assist on McMichael’s empty-net goal. With two assists tonight, Wilson recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season and the 59th of his career.
- With their 5-3 win at Tampa Bay, the Capitals extend their winning streak to three games. Since Feb. 10, Washington has a record of 4-1-1.
- It marks Ovechkin’s first point streak of 10 or more games since 2018 (14 games, 11/16/18-12/15/18: 17g-6a–23p).
By Jon Sorensen
If only we had a better coach.
What is he doing wrong?
Bull! Without Fehevery, Dowd and Oshie, they won anyway. Their coach is leading them on the right path.
Exactly, he’s winning games with both hands tied behind his back.
Sarcasm?
Got to be sarcasm.
yeah…like Todd Reirden
idiocy. just stop, you’re embarrassing yourself
Now it was clearly Ovi’s primary assist on MM’s ENG! They mistook the 8 for the 3 😂 So Ovi’s gonna have points in 10 straight. No doubt.
They finally changed it. But I was shocked when I saw Jensen with the primary assist. I thought, “That couldn’t be right!” since it looked like Ovi.
Nikolai Jensenov
Speculation has been ACL or Achilles. Back injury suggested, as well. Caps even put a praying emoti in a tweet.
Oshie says he’ll be back
Looked like a groin. Oshie has been playing really well. Lookin’ like his old self. Get well soon, #77.
I would say, if at the beginning of the season, we had been told that at the 2/3rds mark, we could win our games in hand, and be in a wild card spot, pretty much everyone would have taken it.
Tortuous route, with a lot of ups and downs, but hey! That’s pro sports for you.
That 2019 draft yielded three NHL players, out of 4 taken. .750 batting average. Not bad.
That Oshie injury does not look good. I think his season’s over. Non-contact injuries are always the worst. That win was for him. Now we’re without a significant piece if we wanna make a run. This old core is fading fast. But with that comes opportunity for our young guys. I wonder if this affects any plans of moving Mantha. He’s more vital to this teams success now.
‘Twas game #996 for Osh. Hope he comes back soonest 🙏 But you can’t come back too soon, either. Hope his chiropractor in Minnesota can work some more wonders.
I was certain that Oshie would be dealt at the deadline. Probably not now.
I don’t think Oshie was ever going anywhere.
Oshie is a LEADER. We need him.
Game showed Protas can play 4C hope they get something good for Dowd
How did Protas play at C? Lets get Dube in and call up Frank
He looked pretty good. He’s not the defensive anchor Dowd is, but he has a lot of size to throw around. Center seems more his natural position anyhow.
Previous non-contact injury for Osh. Similar?
Do you know what injury this one turned out to be? It may be they never said (just “LBI”). It looked like a groin to me, as did last night’s. But I’ve often been wrong about those guesses.
As the Capitals raid the Hershey roster for call-ups (about darn time!), Bears continue to win. Forty wins, nine losses and three anti-shootouts. Beating any team with a Penguin on the sweater makes for a Good Day! Hooray for Hershey
Caps 23-roster looks more Bearish every day, and tonight has a chance to maul the Panthers. So far all the call-ups have been forwards. High-time to recall some defensemen! The EBear experiment is disappointing, and even Captain Carbery himself has complained about it to the press
So with EBear floundering, 6 Edmundson good as gone at the deadline, and MartyF injured, POHO Mac needs to bring us at least two Hershey D-prospects
Wonder how the lineup will look due to Lapi getting recalled from Hershey… Is he playing at all tonight? What are the lineys?
But it’s The Sound of Silence…
No morning skate. The Carburetor meets with the media at 3:45. Reminder, game at 6PM ET
Thx Jon! At least I’ll know not to expect any word from Carbs or any of the reporters until then))
Strange that it didn’t even offer me to login. This was andrew777dc 🙂
Matthew Tkachuk will not play for the Panthers against the Washington Capitals on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; MNMT, BSFL) because of an upper-body injury. from nhl dot com.
Good for Mo! FLA got away with a bunch of cheap shots. Then Mo to Go! Rights and Lefts pummeling his opponent
Bobo been real lucky tonight. Come On Caps put in some goals [2nd per 06:00]
And how about all those empty seats? Great Franchise, the FLA
80 degrees in Sunrise and sunny. Not good ice hockey weather. I think a Canadian team would have more supporters show. Same for Rangers or Boston, a team at the top. Caps are not considered an exciting team in national press at the moment.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) appeal of suspension imposed last October because the ROC incorporated four Ukrainian provinces, which is a breach of the Olympic charter. The IOC says it will “bar athletes who actively support the war” but it’s not forcing any athletes to speak out against Russia’s aggression. The suspension means that the IOC can ban any Russian athlete for any reason with no appeal by Russia, although the individual athlete can appeal.
I don’t see how Russia could field a hockey team but, since there’s a lot of money involved, maybe they will represent the ISS or Antarctica.