Capitals forward Chris Clark never once complained when asked over the summer to move to the third line.
A 30-goal scorer a year ago playing on the top line alongside star forward Alex Ovechkin, Clark, the team captain, immediately accepted his new role. But it didn’t last long.
After just seven games, coach Glen Hanlon decided his No. 1 line of Ovechkin and forward Viktor Kozlov could use an infusion of grit at right wing. And that is something Clark possesses in spades. Wednesday night against Tampa Bay the move paid immediate dividends with Clark scoring two goals in a 5-3 victory at Verizon Center.
“[Chris] is our leader,” said Ovechkin, who assisted on Clark’s first goal and later added a second assist and an empty-net goal. “He was back on our line and we play just like last two years. He scored goals and I scored goals.”
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Caps (4-4), who won for the third time this season against a Southeast Division opponent. Forwards David Steckel and Brooks Laich also scored for Washington, which again struggled on the power play (0-for-4) but killed off all three Tampa Bay power plays.
“I got a couple of those goose eggs off my board. But to come out with a win I think was huge,” said Clark, who, before Wednesday night, had yet to produce a goal or an assist this season. “We had to stop that four-game losing streak and we did it against a pretty good team.”
Lightning defenseman Paul Ranger tied the game at 2-2 in the second period after scoring a short-handed goal at 7 minutes, 27 seconds. That could have been deflating. Instead, the Caps responded near the end of the second. Laich and Clark scored goals just 1:01 apart – the latter coming at 18:42 – and put the Caps back in the lead, 4-2.
“I think we were able to get a little momentum from that,” said Laich, who also scored a game-winning goal Oct. 8 vs. the New York Islanders. “Clarkie came out and gets a shot on net and we get a lucky break off his pants. But we worked hard for those breaks tonight.”
The Caps endured a frantic final five minutes after Tampa Bay forward Martin St. Louis scored his second goal of the season at 14:06 of the third period. Tampa Bay finished even with the Caps at 29 shots and forced goaltender Olie Kolzig to make 26 saves, including several key stops down the stretch.
It didn’t hurt that Tampa Bay forward Vincent Lecavalier was ejected after a fight with Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn. In one fell swoop, Lecavalier earned penalties for slashing, instigating, fighting and a game misconduct, 19 penalty minutes in all for the reigning NHL scoring champion. He earned just 44 all last season and had none entering the game.
“[Morrisonn] must have gotten under Vinny’s skin. We’ve played them enough the last couple of years,” said Kolzig. “Believe me, I’d much rather see him sitting in the dressing room than out on the ice, especially with the way they were pressing.”
