Capitals at Lightning
The Washington Capitals have not been the same team since their league-mandated “bye week” last month and try to gain some momentum when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. The Capitals saw their lead in the Metropolitan Division shrink while going 6-6-2 since Feb. 18 and are averaging 2.2 goals during that stretch, capped by a 2-1 overtime loss to Nashville on Thursday.
“(It’s) just confidence around the net to score goals,” Washington's Brett Connolly told reporters after scoring the only goal in Thursday’s setback. “Before the break, we were going so strong and have just hit a little bit of a lull, so we’re looking to get that back. We’ve got 12 games here to find it. We’ll find it here.” Tampa Bay saw its six-game point streak (5-0-1) come to an end with a 5-0 home loss to Toronto on Thursday, falling a point back in the race for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. “The thing that was missing was defending,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper told reporters. “That 10 by 10 area in front of our net was the only area on the ice we didn’t play.” The good news for Tampa Bay is center Steven Stamkos, who has been out four months following knee surgery, skated in a full practice for the first time Friday - although the Lightning captain told reporters he is not 100 percent yet and won’t play until he is.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (45-17-8): While many of Washington’s key scorers are cold, Nicklas Backstrom is still adding to his team-leading point total (71) with eight in the last nine contests. Captain Alex Ovechkin owns one goal in 12 games (team-best 28 overall), Evgeny Kuznetsov has two points in the last seven contests and fellow forward Marcus Johansson owns two points in eight March outings. The Capitals could get forward Andre Burakovsky (hand) back in the lineup for the first time since Feb. 9, and he would likely be reunited with former Lightning forward Connolly and Lars Eller on a solid third line.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (34-27-9): Stamkos is one of five regular forwards expected to be out for Saturday’s game and that includes third-leading scorer Tyler Johnson (lower-body), who has missed the last four. Forward Vladislav Namestnikov (lower-body) skated Friday, but is not likely to play Saturday, while left wing Ondrej Palat and defenseman Jake Dotchin are nursing undisclosed injuries and were held out of practice. Right wing Nikita Kucherov was kept off the scoresheet in the last two games, but leads the team with 69 points overall and boasts 10 goals in his last 12 contests.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay G Andrei Vasilevskiy was pulled Thursday and suffered his first regulation loss (6-1-1) since taking over as No. 1 netminder when Ben Bishop was traded.
2. Washington G Braden Holtby owns an .870 save percentage in his last five games, but stopped 55 of 56 shots in two wins over Tampa Bay this season.
3. The Lightning are 3-for-23 with the man advantage over the last seven games and the Capitals have allowed six power-play tallies in five contests.