Alex Ovechkin (via the Capitals)
The Capitals hosted a Steven Stamkos-less Tampa Bay Lightning team Tuesday, which was ranked 21st in the power-play and 8th in penalty kill before the Caps’ 6-5 win. Meanwhile, the Capitals entered the game with the 13th best penalty kill and the 5th best power play. This is slightly below their rankings a month ago when the Capitals had the top ranked penalty kill and power play in the league.
Mike Green’s two early penalties proved costly as the Lightning scored on their first two power plays. After a 3-0 start in the first period, the Capitals pulled goalie Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer entered the game.
The game started to change momentum when Richard Panik boarded Karl Alzner, giving the Caps a five minute power play. Alex Ovechkin scored twice on that man-advantage, while Nicklas Backstrom scored one of his own. Also with those power play goals, Ovechkin passed Peter Bondra for most power play goals as a Capital with 138.
“He is a pure sniper,” said Adam Oates. “I mean the fourth goal with the ice conditions at that time, that’s an incredible shot. That’s why he’s a superstar.”
Their three power play goals were the needed ingredient to tie the game to bring it to overtime and a shootout. The Capitals went 3-for-5 on their power play chances, while the Lightning were 2-for-5.
“It was a big goal for us, no question, said Coach Adam Oates of the firs tpower play goal. “It got everybody going, and gave the team a little feeling that we could maybe do something.”
“It’s always nice to score a couple goals on the power play,” said Nicklas Backstrom. “It makes you feel good, and we’ve been struggling a little bit on the power play lately, so it’s always nice to score on the power play.”
