The Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals are coming off incredibly emotional victories as they meet for the final time in the regular season Saturday night in the nation’s capital.
The Eastern Conference foes would probably like for their respective Thursday night games to have just kept going, though they went about winning in different ways.
In its lone road contest during an eight-game stretch, Washington went to Quebec and simply obliterated the Montreal Canadiens 8-4, with seven goals over the final 40 minutes.
Alex Ovechkin (10 goals, 10 assists) and Ethen Frank each had four-point outings in the Capitals’ third straight win, while Dylan Strome added three assists.
The 28-year-old Strome kept adding during the game as wife, Tayler, gave birth to their third daughter ahead of schedule, being taken to the hospital back in Washington and delivering Sutton Kimberley by the end of the first period.
Strome was emotional afterward — not over the win but because he was unable to get back for the birth.
On the ice, Ovechkin’s hat trick was his 33rd. The Great Eight became the second player to have six goals in a four-game span at 40 years or older, joining Teemu Selanne (2011). He’s on pace for nearly 40 goals.
Coach Spencer Carbery is concerned about the expectations of high-scoring winger Aliaksei Protas, who netted 30 goals last season but has six in 21 games this season.
“It’s a slippery slope for a player, and that’s what I’m trying to make sure (of), that he’s not evaluating his game on whether he scores,” Carbery said of the 24-year-old native of Belarus, who has hit the net once in nine games.
The Capitals are a middling 6-6-2 against Eastern Conference competition and 2-4-1 against the Atlantic Division after the blowout win in Montreal.
Included in the latter statistic are results against the Lightning this season: a 3-2 overtime home win on Oct. 14 and a 3-2 regulation defeat in Tampa two weeks ago.
The Lightning needed every minute and then some to beat back the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in overtime Thursday.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made a save on the doorstep ,then Jake Guentzel won it seconds later on a 2-on-1 rush.
In order to reach the 10-3-0 mark in the past 13 games, the Lightning tied it in the final three minutes on a goal by Nick Paul, his 200th career point, in his season debut. They then survived the Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl attack in 3-on-3 play before Guentzel’s sixth career overtime winner.
“We started playing defense-first,” Paul said of shutting down the Oilers. “From there, we just kept momentum going and pucks on net. … It was just the push of the team, that relentlessness, that jam we need if we’re going to go far and have a great year.”
The rear guard continues to be a concern for the Lightning, especially without captain Victor Hedman, who is expected to be out weeks with an undisclosed issue.
“It’s just a tough one for him,” Cooper said Thursday morning after the 2018 Norris Trophy winner was placed on injured reserve. “The big thing here is the longevity and having him be better in the long run.”
Fellow blueliner Ryan McDonagh and winger Pontus Holmberg are also on IR, while defenseman Erik Cernak is day-to-day.
