A TWO Point Night...Caps 3 - Lightning 2

3-2?

The Peerless thought that might have been the score after one period.

Nevertheless, the Caps put the loss to Buffalo behind them with a scrappy one-goal win in a place where few visitors emerge victorious this year. Although there were fits and starts along the way, let’s keep in mind…

-- Tampa had the best home record in the Eastern Conference coming into this game (11-4-2)…they lost

-- The Lightning were the highest scoring team at home in the East (3.65 goals/game)…they finished with two.

-- Tampa Bay had the top home goal differential in the East – they weren’t just beating clubs, they were beating them badly…they lost by a goal.

-- The “big four” scorers for Tampa Bay – Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Vaclav Prospal – were averaging 5.76 points a game, combined, at home…they finished with three.

-- Their power play was humming along at 25.3 percent at home…they finished 0-for-4.

-- Tampa Bay had only lost twice in regulation this year when scoring first, only once at home.

This game was huge for the Caps. Bruce Boudreau alluded to it after the Buffalo loss when he said, "I'll find out about a lot of guys [against the Lightning]. Is it a, 'Hang my head, woe-is-me crowd,' or a 'Let's be determined and turn it around again crowd?'"

What he got was a by-the-book road game to turn it around. Play tough, keep the home team in sight, don’t let them dictate the pace, take advantage of the opportunities you get, and play smart late.

And, the Caps didn’t let the loss against Buffalo eat into the progress they achieved with their three game winning streak. That’s the key – to keep from bleeding too much – and it has been how they got into the fix they’re in…stringing together too many consecutive losses.

Looking at the numbers, the obvious story is Brian Pothier. Given a seat by Bruce Boudreau for a couple of games, Pothier responded in a big way with the game-winning goal tonight. He also assisted on the David Steckel goal, but the big number might have been “zero,” as in “zero giveaways.” Against a team with as much fire power as the Lightning, playing smart with the puck – especially among the defense – is vital. For the night, the Caps had only eight giveaways, and only two by a defenseman.

And even though Brent Johnson gave up a pair of goals he might like to have back, in the end he only gave up a pair of goals on 25 shots. Tampa had scored two or fewer at home only five times in 16 home games coming into this contest.

And now, your obscure number for the night…

8:24

That was the least amount of time on ice spent at even strength for a Capital tonight…it belongs to Alexander Semin (yes, even Donald Brashear had more). Part of that is likely that the Caps were protecting a one-goal lead in the third period, but Semin did not skate a shift in the last 10:41 and had only three shifts in the third period. Injury?...or message? We’ll see.

But enough of that. The Caps are 7-4-1 in their last dozen games – a 103 point pace. But here’s the thing…the Caps have 50 games to play. If they earn points at the rate they’ve done so far under Bruce Boudreau, they’ll finish with 91 points. We’ll just leave you with that thought.