Tampa Bay @ Washington preview
Capital One Arena
Last Meeting ( Mar 30, 2023 ) Washington 1, Tampa Bay 5
The popular narrative around the early demise of the Great Eight - Washington's Alexander Ovechkin -- may have been premature.
With a game-winning overtime snipe under his belt, the Capitals' superstar might just be back on track and will lead his squad into Saturday night's matchup against the visiting Eastern Conference rival Tampa Bay Lightning.
The previous production for the future Hall of Fame left winger had not been pretty entering Thursday night's match at the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Through the first 29 games, the famous No. 8 had just five goals and 13 assists on his scoresheet. He was minus-5 for the Capitals, who also started slowly by opening the season with four defeats in five games (1-3-1).
That changed in Ohio's capital city.
Late on a four-on-three power play after Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins roughed Tom Wilson, Ovechkin took a feed from Dylan Strome, patiently waited for a clear lane and fired in the game-winning goal - his first this campaign.
NBC Sports Washington play-by-play announcer Joe Beninati exclaimed what the fan base had been awaiting: "The Great Wait is over!"
The tally snapped a 14-game goalless spell for the captain - the longest of his 19-year career.
"It's been a while," said Ovechkin. "I'll take it."
The overtime goal was Ovechkin's 26th, extending his NHL record in that category, and No. 828 overall in the 38-year-old's outstanding tenure in D.C.
For Washington, the win was its fifth in the past seven matches (5-1-1).
The victory was the club's third straight overall - all after regulation - and boosted it into the No. 1 wild-card spot.
The Capitals are 6-0-0 in the second game of back-to-backs.
"This one was right up there with the most challenging that we've had this year," coach Spencer Carbery said. "You could just tell in that third period. ... We had just been in this situation (Wednesday) night, and we had nothing in the tank, physically and mentally."
On a two-game winning streak, the Lightning are back to their explosive ways and used home ice, where they are 10-3-3, to rack up big offensive numbers in victories over St. Louis (6-1) and Vegas (5-4).
Thursday's triumph over the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights featured plenty of back-and-forth on the scoreboard.
Vegas owned a 2-0 lead after one period, but the Lightning burst out for four unanswered in the second on a pair of markers from Brayden Point and one apiece by Nikita Kucherov and Alex Barre-Boulet.
After the Golden Knights tied it at 4 in the first half of the final frame, Tampa Bay finally won the match when Nicholas Paul fired a sharp-angle shot past Vegas goaltender Jiri Patera with just 73 seconds left.
Paul's tally was his 11th and second game-winner, with the other coming in the Lightning's 5-3 season opener against the Nashville Predators.
"Ultimately, you get leads for a reason, so you don't have to come back," said coach Jon Cooper, who sits on 496 career victories. "If you do get pushed a bit, you can push back. And we got (Paul's) big one at the end and took it home."
Point's two goals and an assist lifted him to 501 career points, while Kucherov's strike put him at 299 career goals.
Since the 2021-22 season, the Lightning are 4-2-0 against the Capitals.
- Field Level Media