Washington drops second game of the postseason, trails series 1-0
It was just like old times for the Capitals at Verizon Center on Friday night. And that was not a good thing.
A team that spent much of this season embracing the defensive aspects of its sport suddenly found itself playing a style reminiscent of previous incarnations. And so a game Washington appeared to control for much of the night slipped away with alarming speed.
Almost 30 minutes of dominating hockey where the Caps created one scoring chance after another took a sudden turn when the Tampa Bay Lightning scored twice just 3: 11 apart late in the second period. The latter – a power-play tally from star winger Steven Stamkos with 32 seconds left in the period – put his team on top and that held up as the eventual winner in a 4-2 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Tampa Bay takes a 1-0 series lead into Game 2, a 7 p.m. start at Verizon Center on Sunday. The Lightning, playing just 48 hours after an emotional Game 7 first-round victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, also received a goal from Steve Downie at 16:17 of the second period. That tied the game at 2, an especially tough break considering the puck deflected off Washington defenseman Scott Hannan and past goalie Michal Neuvirth (20 saves, 23 shots on goal). Just like that a 2-1 lead was a 3-2 deficit.
“I thought we were in control of the game until the Downie goal and that gave them life,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “But you can’t play river hockey. This wasn’t the way we play. It was reverting back to an older day.”
He’s referring to the previous three seasons when a run-and-gun style brought Washington regular-season accolades and postseason failure. Even before Downie’s deflection the Caps had slipped into some old habits rarely seen this season – unnecessary passes in the neutral zone that led to chances the other way and a handful of bad penalties.
“I thought the momentum changed when we stopped playing how we wanted to,” Hannan said. “We sort of turned the puck over, which doesn’t play into our hands very well. That last five minutes of the second I thought we got away from our game plan and that’s playoff hockey. You get away from it for a bit, two quick goals and all of the sudden you’re chasing. And Tampa is a tough team to be chasing.”
Sean Bergenheim opened the scoring for Tampa Bay just 2:12 into the contest. Washington answered with goals by Alex Semin and Eric Fehr to take a 2-1 lead. The Caps also had an apparent first-period goal by Brooks Laich waved off when officials used video replay to determine he illegally kicked the puck into the net.
In one stretch bridging the first and second periods, Washington had outshot Tampa Bay 15-2 after shaking off a strong start from the Lightning. The Caps had not played a game in six days since their first-round series clincher against the New York Rangers at home last Saturday. The Lightning registered the first seven shots of the game, showing no ill effects from the Game 7 win at Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
“That’s exactly how we expected them to play,” Fehr said. “And we had a really good game plan and we had it going for a while. But we kind of gave up on it and things didn’t go well after that.”
Downie’s goal hurt. But the Stamkos goal changed the game. That power play was the result of a roughing penalty to Caps forward Jason Chimera, who hit Tampa Bay defenseman Pavel Kubina up high. Following a shot by defenseman Eric Brewer, Stamkos scooped the rebound to the right of Neuvirth and slipped the puck inside the near post for the 3-2 advantage. Washington managed just five shots on goal against Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson (26 saves, 28 shots) in the third period. Dominic Moore added an empty-net goal for Tampa Bay with 40 seconds left to seal the victory.
