Tampa Bay Lightning 3, Caps 2
Kind of a disappointing end to a season-long five-game homestand. The Caps had some chances tonight, but Tampa Bay outworked them when it mattered. The Lightning tied up sticks up front, kept the Caps to the outside as best they could and were opportunistic. Brandon Bochenski scored on a perfectly placed wrister. Matt Walker scored off a faceoff win and a tap pass by teammate Stephane Veilleux. Vinny Lecavalier scored off his rib cage. That was all Tampa needed to build a 3-1 lead. Brooks Laich’s power-play goal at 11:09 of the third period brought the Verizon Center crowd to life. But the Caps couldn’t score the tying goal, even after pulling goalie Semyon Varlamov for the extra attacker.
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Varlamov made 24 saves on 27 shots as he continues to shed the rust from a long layoff because of knee and groin injuries. The Lecavalier goal at 15:12 of the second was unlucky – just a puck that deflected off his upper body. Maybe Varlamov could have taken a better angle on Bochenski’s goal late in the first – kind of a killer with 49 seconds left in the period and Washington up 1-0. But it was also a heck of a wrist shot and he had plenty of space to choose his corner. Varlamov stopped 23 of 26 against Dallas on Monday and 25 of 29 last Thursday against Tampa Bay. Prior to that game he had played just once since Dec. 7 – an ugly 6-5 loss at Ottawa on Feb. 11. I cede the floor to Caps coach Bruce Boudreau, who was hard on Varlamov after that performance in Ottawa, but saw plenty of other reasons his team lost on Friday night.
“[Varlamov’s] not getting a lot of help on breakaways and such. i don’t think he saw the second [goal by Walker] and…the one off the faceoff, I know he didn’t see. And Lecavalier’s [goal] what is he going to do? Is he going to stop that? I don’t think so. It bounces off his shoulder, over his head and into the net. So now we’re saying, okay, he let one goal in. and now we want to blame this on the goalie? I mean, come on. it’s not fair to him. Just because he had [27] shots, it’s not fair to look at the goalie and say, ‘Hey, listen, it was his fault.’ We didn’t do the job as forwards and defensemen. We stayed out too long, we got outworked and we didn’t play the way we’re capable of playing and that’s the reason we lost.”
Can’t argue with that. The Caps will have plenty more nights like this. If they match the energy of the desperate teams they’re playing a win is likely. If not, they’ll have to fight from behind. Boudreau wouldn’t commit to stabilizing the lineup as the playoffs approach. But I’m guessing it’s no more than a game or two off. We’ll see who he plays against Chicago on Sunday. Have to believe defensemen Jeff Schultz and John Carlson are back in the lineup after being scratched tonight. We’ll see Eric Belanger against Chicago, too.
“If you want to find some sort of silver lining we’re not giving up as much [in terms of goals],” said Caps forward Mike Knuble, who dropped off the top line for a bit on Friday. “We’re not scoring as much either. I think we all saw this coming. After the break it gets a little bit more difficult to score a lot of goals. You’re not going to blow teams out. They’re playing for their lives.”
Caps Notes
» Washington lost at Verizon Center in regulation for the first time since Dec. 28. It went 14-0-1 during that stretch with the overtime loss coming Monday against Dallas.
» Tomas Fleischmann set his career high with goal No. 20. That’s despite missing 11 games thanks to lingering affects of a blood clot during the offseason. He is the sixth Caps player to hit 20. Only one other NHL team has as many as four 20-goal scorers.
» Forward Brooks Laich has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in his last 20 games. He scored No. 21 in the third period, one of two power-play goals for Washington.
» Alex Ovechkin had two assists and now has 52 overall. That’s two shy of his career high. He has 96 points overall.
» Defenseman Mike Green assisted on Laich’s third-period goal and has points in 12 of his last 13 games.
» Caps lost despite winning the faceoff battle handily (64 percent to 36 percent), committing one penalty (Matt Bradley in the first period for slashing) and had 30 shots to Tampa Bay’s 27.
» Washington heads into Sunday’s showdown with Chicago at 45-14-9 and 99 points. The Caps have clinched the Southeast Division title and are still 14 points ahead of the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 14 games remaining. Washington is four points up on San Jose (43-14-9, 95 points) and six up on Chicago (44-17-5, 93 points) as those Western Conference teams chase the Caps for overall best record in the NHL.
