'24' had Jack Bauer, the Tampa Bay Lightning have Ryan Malone as he scored the game winner to give the Lightning a 3-0 series lead after a 4-3 defeat of the Capitals on Tuesday night at the St. Pete Times Forum.
Malone's goal came after the Capitals turned over the puck in the neutral zone where Adam Hall was able to spring Nate Thompson toward the goal. He passed the puck across the crease where the puck bounced off John Carlson's skate and then deflected off the skate of Malone and into the net. The officials reviewed the goal and determined that there was no kicking motion and the goal would stand.
The Malone goal came just 24 seconds after Steven Stamkos sent a laser past Michal Neuvirth (4-3-1) high stick side after Marco Sturm turned over the puck in the Caps own end. Victor Hedman got the puck to Stamkos who skated to the middle of the ice from left to right and then sniped his shot from right to left to collect his forth goal of the playoffs.
“They are uncanny when they want to get a goal," Capitals forward Mike Knuble said. "It’s like they just snap their fingers or hit a button. They just dial it up. You can see it. It’s like they flip a switch. When they are down, it’s just like they think ‘we know we are going to score’. I don’t know what it is, it leaves you flabbergasted.”
The game started the way the Lightning wanted as Sean Bergenheim and Dominic Moore continue to be the dynamic duo in the playoffs. Bergenheim and Moore worked a back and forth passing play on a two on one and Bergenheim was able to put it through Neuvirth's five hole to put the Bolts up first at the 11:03 mark of the first period.
Alex Ovechkin came out in the second period with purpose and it payed off 59 seconds into the period when he was able to get loose on a break away but was unable to connect on the shot. He kept the play alive and retrieved the puck from the left corner slinging a pass to the front of the net for Knuble who beat Dwayne Roloson (7-2-1).
John Carlson put the Capitals up 2-1 when his shot from the point found a way through traffic and catch Roloson without a view of the shot. It was Carlson's first goal of the playoffs and he led all players on the night with six shots on net.
Vinnie Lecavalier knotted the score again when he was able to redirect a shot from Martin St. Louis with 8:09 left in the second period. St. Louis and Teddy Purcell had a successful cycle behind the net and allowed St. Louis to get to the slot for an open shot.
The Lightning again tonight struggled to stay out of the penalty box in the second period as they collected three penalties in a span of 2:36. At one point they had two in the sin bin and the continual tempting of fate finally caught the Bolts. Ovechkin was able to bury a puck that was left on the door step after a scramble in front of the net and Roloson wasn't able to smother the puck. Ovechkin rushed in like a shark and roofed the biscuit to give the Capitals their first power play goal in the series. The are now one of 16 on the power play against the Lightning in this series and four of 34 in the playoffs.
“I think all year we’ve been pretty resilient and I always feel like we give ourselves a chance," St. Louis said after the game. "We’ve had all year to learn about each other.”
The Capitals on the other hand feel they had more to do with the come back as they struggled in the final period.
“It’s tough to say, I don’t know exactly, I can’t really put my finger on it," Karl Alzner said. "I thought we were playing good but just started to get a little too complacent. We just took our foot off of the gas for a little bit.”
“We just gave them lifelines," Knuble stated. "I think we played well. We played the game that we wanted to play. We gave them a lifeline when we were leading and they tied it to make it 2-2. We go up 3-2 and we gave them another lifeline.”
“I thought a couple of those goals he (Neuvirth) should have had," Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau said. "At the same time, when they had the lead, he kept us in the game. I think we as a group lost our composure and had giveaways. He was there to keep us involved in the game."
Both these teams will have to lace them up again tomorrow night and for the Capitals it is do or die.
Capitals Jason Arnott knows it's pretty simple for them, “There’s nothing to lose now. We have to win tomorrow.”
On the reverse, St. Louis knows that the Capitals won't roll over and die, "“This team is a good team. It’s going to be hard to win four games, so obviously we’re happy about the result tonight and we just have to reload tomorrow.”
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»