Capitals at Lightning
The Washington Capitals are playing like a team of destiny since losing the first two games of the playoffs and can take a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference finals when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night for Game 2. The Capitals limited Tampa Bay to 21 shots - 10 in the first two periods - and received a goal and an assist from captain Alex Ovechkin en route to a 4-2 victory in Game 1 on Friday.
“This group is having fun,” Washington coach Barry Trotz told reporters after his team’s ninth win in its last 11 contests. “They’re calm. They’ve got a really good work ethic. … When you have a real good group that likes to be around each other and have these moments and play in the playoffs, you don’t want those to go away.” The Capitals will need a similar defensive effort in Game 2 against the Lightning, who lost the first game in the previous round at home against Boston before recording four straight victories. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters after practice Saturday his team fueled the fire of a good team by handing them chances and did not stick to the plan that was so successful in winning eight of the first 10 games in the playoffs. “We’ve got to put it behind us,” Lightning right wing Ryan Callahan told reporters. “We’ve been in this situation before, unfortunately. You don’t want to be, but you don’t have to look too far to draw back on the way we responded against Boston. We have to do the same here.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CBC, Sportsnet, TVA
ABOUT THE CAPITALS: Ovechkin scored the key goal of the game on the power play with six seconds left in the first period and Washington has converted with the man advantage in 11 of 13 playoff games, going 15-for-46 overall. The Capitals went 2-for-4 in the power play despite the absence of center Nicklas Backstrom (hand), who continues to work out on his own and is day-to-day, but Trotz told reporters he is optimistic the Swede will play in the series. Evgeny Kuznetsov had a pair of assists Friday to give him 16 points in the playoffs - one behind team leader Ovechkin - and T.J. Oshie set up two goals to become the fifth player on the team to reach 10 points.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: Tampa Bay started the playoffs with solid penalty killing (19-for-23, two against were 5-on-3), but has reverted back to their regular-season form (28th) after giving up six power-play goals in 12 attempts the last four contests. Captain Steven Stamkos scored one of the Lightning’s two goals in the third period Friday on the power play and has three in the past four games while right wing Nikita Kucherov leads the team with 13 points in 11 postseason games. Center Cedric Paquette and defenseman Anton Stralman sat out practice Saturday, but Cooper told reporters they both would “all right” for Game 2.
OVERTIME
1. The Lightning have won five straight Game 2s in the playoffs after losing Game 1, including three times in the 2014-15 postseason.
2. Washington G Braden Holtby leads the league with nine victories in the playoffs entering Saturday after failing to start the opening two games of the first-round series.
3. Tampa Bay G Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed four goals in 40 minutes Friday before being pulled, after yielding five in the previous three games combined.