Maybe the Capitals should just pretend their games begin with the second period. It has been a trend all season – Washington falls behind early and then turns on the jets. It happened again on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Verizon Center.
Down 1-0 after the first period, the Caps received second-period goals from defenseman Tom Poti and forward Mike Knuble to take back the lead. Alex Semin then provided the insurance with a power-play tally at 4 minutes, 33 seconds of the third period, an even-strength goal just over six minutes later and finally an empty netter for a hat trick and a 6-3 victory.
Washington (12-4-0, 24 points) has won six games in a row – its longest streak since the franchise-record 14-gamer last winter. It was a quality victory over Tampa Bay (8-5-2, 18 points), which hopes to challenge the three-time defending Southeast Division champions in the division this season.
“We’ll ride it as long as it goes. But he’s pretty on right now,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said of Semin, who has a team-high 12 goals. “Everything he’s touching is turning to gold.”
Boudreau again stuck with his skilled top line of Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin. Sometimes those three together get far too cute for their own good, looking for highlight-reel goals at any cost. Boudreau won’t hesitate to break them up when it happens. Tonight was not one of those nights as the trio combined for 12 points. Semin had the three goals and two assists. Ovechkin had a goal and two assists and Backstrom recorded four assists.
“In principle, nothing has changed for me personally. I’m just going out there and playing,” Semin said through translator Dmitry Chesnokov. “But at the same time we’ve been together for such a long time and we know each other so it’s easy to go out there and we don’t have to think – just pass.”
Of course, their incredible display of skill came well into the game. Washington fell behind 1-0 on a goal by Tampa Bay forward Teddy Purcell and the Lightning had three or four golden scoring chances early. Opponents have now outscored the Caps 17-7 in the first period. In the second? That margin shifts to 25-10 in Washington’s favor and 45-23 if third-period goals are included.
“I sure would like to get out of the funk of having the first periods where you’re having to fight from behind all night long,” Boudreau said. “It’s something we want to do. We’d like to be able to get the lead and be able to put a stranglehold on people. But we haven’t had the opportunity to do that.”
Poti tied the game at 1-1 at 2:21 of the second. The defenseman, playing for the first time since Oct. 21 thanks to a lingering groin injury, notched his first goal of the year, backhanding a rebound past Lightning goalie Dan Ellis (20 saves). After scoring just once in his team’s first 14 games, Knuble now has two in as many nights. He scored while skating backwards below the goal line, poking home the rebound of a Brooks Laich shot from virtually no angle.
Tampa’s Ryan Malone started a six-goal third period with his easy power-play tally at 2:43 of the third. Semin put Washington ahead 4-2 with his first two goals – one of those coming on the Caps’ lone power play. But Lightning center Steven Stamkos showed some serious skill of his own, lifting the puck over Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth (38 saves) at 12:43 to trim the lead to 4-3. Semin had a chance at the hat trick with just over five minutes left, lost the puck off his stick and recovered to find a wide-open Ovechkin, who ripped a shot past Ellis to put the game out of reach. Semin’s empty-netter for the hat trick came with just 16 seconds left.
