Capitals Rally Late To Jolt Bolts, 5-4; Tom Wilson Scores Game-Winning Goal


Photo: Lightning

The Washington Capitals rallied in the third period to down the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4, Wednesday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The victory improves the Capitals record to 15-6-1 (31 points) on the season.

The Lightning struck first just under four minutes into the opening frame on a breakaway goal by Brayden Point. Point added a power play marker midway through the frame to give the Bolts a 2-0 lead at the first break.

The Capitals made it 2-1 midway through the middle frame on Andrew Mangiapane’s fifth goal of the season and tied the game less than two minutes later on a short-handed tally by Aliaksei Protas. The Lightning regained the lead with a goal by Michael Eyssimont with just 44 seconds remaining in the middle frame, for a 3-2 lead at the second intermission.

The Capitals once again tied the game just 1:35 into the final frame on Dylan Strome’s seventh goal of the season. Unfortunately the Lightning regained the lead when Capitals netminder Charlie Lindgren mishandled a puck and found the back of his own net  midway through the final frame. But yet again the Capitals fought back to tie the game. This time it was John Carlson who dented the twine to make it 4-4 midway through the third stanza.

Tom Wilson gave the Capitals their first lead of the night on a power play goal with less than four minutes remaining in the contest which would eventually be the game-winner.

LINEUP

Charlie Lindgren (5-5-0, 2.64 GAA, .901 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Capitals. Andrei Vasilevsky (10-6-1, 2.24 GAA, .915 sv%) got the start in goal for the Lightning. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Taylor Raddysh
Hendrix Lapierre – Lars Eller – Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Ivan Miroshnichenko

Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun – Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson

Scratched: Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath and Alexander Alexeyev

Injured: Alex Ovechkin (lower body), Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip) and T.J. Oshie (back)

1ST PERIOD

The Lightning opened the scoring on a two-on-one rush finished by Brayden Point (13) just 3:58 into the contest. Jake Guentzel (12) created the turnover and had the lone assist on the tally.

Brayden Point then added his second goal of the period on the power play at 12:25 to give the Lightning the early 2-0 lead. N. Kucherov (21) and V. Hedman (15) had the helpers.

The Bolts held the 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Shot attempts at five-on-five were tied 14-14. The Lightning held the edge in expected goals for, 0.44 to 0.32.

2ND PERIOD

The Capitals cut the Bolts lead in half on a 6-on-5 goal by Andrew Mangiapane (5) at 10:31 off the middle frame. Lars Eller (5) and Hendrix Lapierre (5) had the assists.

The Capitals tied the game less than two minutes later on a short-handed goal by Aliaksei Protas, his eighth goal of the season, at 12:29. Tom Wilson (10) had the lone assist.

The Lightning regained the lead with a goal by Michael Eyssimont (2) with just 44 seconds remaining in the middle frame. Z. Girgensons (2) had the lone assist.

The Lightning held the 3-2 lead into the second intermission. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 16-12, in the second period and 29-26 after 40 minutes of play. The Lightning led in expected goals for, 1.10 to 0.66 after two periods of play.

3RD PERIOD

The Capitals tied the game once again just 1:35 into the final frame on Dylan Strome’s seventh goal of the season. Taylor Raddysh (6), Aliaksei Protas (12) had the assists.

Unfortunately the Lightning regained the lead when Capitals netminder Charlie Lindgren found the back of his own net at 12:35. Brayden Point was credited with the goal, which gave time the hat trick.

But once again the Capitals fought back. This time it was John Carlson (3) who dented the twine to make it 4-4 midway through the final frame.

The Capitals took their first lead of the night after Dylan Strome took a high stick to the face, giving the Capitals a four-minute power play. Tom Wilson (7) notched the go ahead marker at 16:32.

The Capitals would hang on for the 5-4 victory.

SHAVINGS

  • Andrew Mangiapane scored his fifth goal of the season to make it 2-1. Mangiapane has recorded five points (3g, 2a) in 11 career games against the Lightning.
  • Aliaksei Protas scored his first career shorthanded goal to tie the game 2-2. Protas, who has scored a career-high eight goals in 22 games this season, ranks fourth on Washington in points (19).
  • Tom Wilson registered the primary assist on Protas’ shorthanded goal, his 10th assist of the season. Since his rookie season in 2013-14, Wilson’s 13 shorthanded points (9g, 4a) are the most on Washington.
  • Dylan Strome scored his seventh goal of the season to tie the game 3-3. With the goal, Strome has reached the 30-point mark (7g, 23a) in just 22 games this season.
  • Taylor Raddysh tallied his sixth assist of the season on Strome’s game-tying goal. It marks Raddysh’s second assist in his last five games.
  • John Carlson scored his third goal of the season to tie the game 4-4. With the goal, Carlson passed Dave Ellett (153) for the 10th-most goals by an American-born defenseman in NHL history.
  • Tom Wilson scores his seventh goal of the season on the power-play to give Washington a 5-4 lead. Wilson has tallied four points (1g, 3a) in his last four games.

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.





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