Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1, Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena in the District. The loss drops the Capitals’ record to 38-14-8 (84 points) on the season.
LINEUP
Logan Thompson (25-3-5, 2.28 GAA, .919 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. Andrei Vasilevskiy (28-15-3, 2.26 GAA, .923 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Lightning. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane – Lars Eller — Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Taylor Raddysh
Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath.
Injured: Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).
Re-assigned: Alexander Alexeyev was re-assigned to Hershey on Saturday for a conditioning stint.
1ST PERIOD
The Lightning opened the scoring late in the initial frame on a power play tally from Mitchell Chaffee (11) at 17:11. B. Point (30) and N. Kucherov (60) had the helpers.
Cleanin’ up on the power play ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/5hHVn0Bt3I
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 1, 2025
And that was it for the first period. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 10-6. The Lightning led in expected goals for, 0.46 to 0.28.
2ND PERIOD
The Capitals and Lightning skated to a scoreless draw in the middle frame. The Capitals dominated five-on-five shot attempts, 22-10. They also held the edge in expected goals for, 0.67 to 0.31 in the second period.
3RD PERIOD
The Lightning made it 2-o early in the final frame on a goal from Gage Goncalves (2) at 6:08. N. Paul (15) had the lone assist.
Gage Goncalves doubles the Lightning lead ✌️
Watch the finish on Sportsnet 📺 pic.twitter.com/1qDIdrU82j
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 1, 2025
The Capitals got on the scoreboard late in the final frame on Alex Ovechkin’s 31st goal of the season at 16:01. Matt Roy (18) had the lone assist. Ovechkin has scored 31 goals in 44 games this season (0.70 G/GP).
ALEX OVECHKIN IS 11 GOALS AWAY FROM HISTORY 🚨 pic.twitter.com/TWJweSpzvZ
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 1, 2025
Ovechkin is 11 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky (894g) for the most goals in NHL history. Ovechkin has recorded 97 points (51g, 46a) in 83 career games versus Tampa Bay. Ovechkin ranks first all-time in career goals and points against the Lightning.
Ovechkin (884g-714a–1,598p in 1,470 GP) is two points shy of becoming the 11th player in NHL history to reach the 1,600-point mark and seventh to do so with a single franchise.
The Lightning added an empty net goal from Brandon Hagel to make it 3-1, the final.
