Things started poorly right out of the gate for the
Washington Capitals in Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday
night. They dug themselves an early hole and ran out of time before they could climb out of it, dropping a 3-2 decision to leave themselves on the brink of elimination going into Game 6 in Washington.
First Period
It took the Lightning just 19 seconds to put the Capitals in
a hole. With the Lightning getting an
early territorial advantage off a Capitals neutral zone turnover, Ryan Callahan
smacked the puck off Dmitry Orlov in the left wing circle, where it found its
way right onto the stick of Cedric Paquette.
He wasted no time in snapping a shot past goalie Braden Holtby and the
Lightning were off and running.
Mid-way through the period, Tampa Bay struck again. Orlov was nudged off the puck by Steven
Stamkos in the neutral zone, and with Orlov splayed on the ice, Nikita Kucherov
grabbed the puck and darted into the offensive end. He fed Ondrej Palat filling in down the
middle, and Palat snapped a shot past Holtby’s blocker to make it 2-0 9:04 into
the period. This would end the first
period scoring.
Tampa Bay had 13 shots on goal to the Caps’ four (three by
defensemen), and they had a 29-8 edge in shot attempts. Twelve Capital skaters did not have a shot
attempt, including the whole top line of Evgeny Kuznetsov, Alex Ovechkin, and
Tom Wilson.
Second Period
Tampa Bay struck in the first minute again, this time when
Anton Stralman walked around defenseman Matt Niskanen and curled to the net,
his shot popping up into the air.
Callahan swooped in, and the puck ricocheted off his right hand over a
prone Holtby, and it was 3-0 just 33 seconds into the period.
Evgeny Kuznetsov got one back for the Caps, finishing off a
generally good all-around shift. The
Caps worked tha puck along the right wing wall until it came out to Matt
Niskanen at the right point. Niskanen
backed off to create a shooting lane, and he fired the puck past Stamkos’ left
leg toward the Lightning net. Kuznetsov,
angling in from the right wing circle, got his stick on the puck as it was
sailing by and redirected it off the near post behind goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy
and in to make it 3-1, 4:21 into the period.
Despite more pressure applied by the Caps over the course of the period,
this was the only puck they could sneak past Vasilevskiy.
Third Period
With a two-goal lead going into the period, the Lightning
were looking to hang on. They played
like it. They exerted little pressure in
the offensive zone and tried to get in the way of every shot attempt in their
own end. The strategy nearly backfired
late in the period when Alex Ovechkin one-timed a pass from John Carlson past
Vasilevskiy with 1:36 left in regulation.
That would be as close as the Caps would get, though, and the Lightning
took their third win in a row in this series, 3-2.
Other stuff…
-- When Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a goal in the second period,
he set a franchise record of 22 points in a single postseason, topping the 21
points that Alex Ovechkin had in 2009. And, he did it on his 26th
birthday. Ovechkin’s goal gave him 21
points in this postseason, tying his career best.
-- Think the Caps were pressing late? Alex Ovechkin averaged 43 seconds per shift
in the first period and 52 seconds per shift in the second. He averaged 1:07 per shift in the third
period. He skated 6:49 of the last 10:15
of the game and 4:28 of the last 4:48 of the game.
-- Ovechkin did not record a shot on goal until there was
3:38 left in regulation. He had three
shots on goal in that last 3:38, the last of which was his goal.
-- The Caps had 30 shots on goal for the game; John Carlson
had eight of them.
-- After posting 29 shot attempts in the first period, Tampa
Bay had only 19 shot attempts over the last 40 minutes.
-- Nicklas Backstrom, despite his wonky hand, won 12 of 17
faceoffs. He has won 18 of 26 draws
taken in this series (69.2 percent).
-- This was the first game in this postseason that the Caps
did not have a power play. It was the eighth
time in team history they did not have a single power play chance in a game,
the first since Game 1 in the Eastern Conference semifinal against Pittsburgh last
season. The Caps are 2-6 in such games
and have never won such a game when played on the road. The oddest part of this string in the fabric
of history is that of the eight postseason games played without the benefit of
a power play, four have come against the New York Islanders.
-- The Caps had more hits (35) than shots on goal (30). Then again, so did Tampa (24 to 22).
-- When Tampa Bay got their third goal, it was a sign. In losing this game, the Caps are now 4-7
when allowing three or more goals in this postseason, 6-0 when allowing two or
fewer.
-- Braden Holtby now has a streak of the sort he has never
had before. In stopping 19 of 22 shots (.864
save percentage) he now has three straight games with a save percentage under
.900. He stopped 54 of 64 shots over
those three games (.844). He has a
lifetime record of 10-9 in the postseason when facing fewer than 25 shots in a
full game.
In the end…
The series now enters its elimination phase, and it really
becomes more of which Caps team shows up in Games 6 and 7. If the team that skated the third period of
Game 5 shows up and skates that way for 60 minutes in each contest, they can (and probably should) win this series. If the team that skated the first 20 minutes
in Game 5 opens the same way in Game 6, then Tuesday will be the first day of
another long offseason.