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Bergies Help Dump The Caps And Sweep The Series |
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The Tampa Bay Lightning are showing why no one wanted to play this team in the playoffs as they completed their sweep of the Washington Capitals with a 5-3 win in front of 20,835 fans at the St. Pete Times Forum Wednesday night. Sean Bergenheim continued his hot play in the playoffs with two goals and Marc-Andre Bergeron had the game winner on the power play.
Whispers of Conn Smythe are being bantered about when it comes to Bergenheim who now has seven goals in the playoffs which is now tied for the league lead in the playoffs.
“I haven’t really thought about it (leading the playoffs in goals) actually," Bergenheim said. "For me, I don’t care who is scoring or who gets the most goals. It’s the wins that count. It feels good to help the team, but we get a lot of scoring from many lines and have good depth on this team, so that’s what really makes it hard for our opponent.”
Tampa Bay head coach Guy Boucher didn't shy away from throwing compliments Bergenheim's way. “This year every top game, every important game, every game that there is some pressure, he (Bergenheim) was in it. He was one of our better players. Some people freeze under pressure, some people fly away and some people fight. He fights.”
As Bergenheim gets a lot of the lime light due to the unexpected nature of his play thus far, Martin St. Louis continues to just get the job done as he scored a goal and had an assist to give him 13 points in 11 playoff games which leads all players.
Another big key to the sweep of the Capitals was the Bolts back stop, Dwayne Roloson (8-2-1), who saved 33 of 36 shots he faced in game four. For the first time in the playoffs, Roloson saw less shots than his counter part as the Lightning out shot the Caps 37-36. Roli has found the fountain of youth as he now has the second longest win streak for a goalie in the playoffs that is over the age of 40 with seven consecutive victories. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the longest streak belongs to Jacques Plante who won eight straight playoff games for the Blues in 1969.
“He’s been great," Ryan Malone bragged about Roloson. "We try to limit the shots he sees and help out around the net, but so far, so good.”
Tampa Bay got on the board first again Wednesday night as they made the Caps pay on the power play. Malone was the recipient of a glorious pass from Vincent Lecavalier who fired the puck across the crease and Malone just needed to get a stick on it to redirect it past Michal Neuvirth (4-4-1).
“It’s hard to win when you don’t get a good start to the game," Brooks Laich reflected about Washington's starts. "They scored first in every game this series I believe, and I think they’re 7-0 when they score first. But we tried and we were there. It’s just they managed to get the goals. We’ve come from behind before. That’s not ideal, but we were still comfortable playing from behind.”
Before the first period was finished though, the Capitals collected their own power play goal as Marco Sturm got his first goal of the playoffs as he set up shop in the dirty area in front of the net as was able to pop the puck over Roloson after a rebound came off from an Alex Ovechkin shot from the blue line.
When the second period opened up is when Bergenheim decided, along with his dynamic duo Dominic Moore, to take over the game as Bergie scored at 4:41 of the middle period after Neuvirth mistakenly handled the puck which would have been whistled for icing and then put into motion the Bolts getting the puck back, Steve Downie firing a shot creating a rebound that Moore got a whack at and then Bergenheim buried.
Bergenheim wasn't done as he again pounced on a rebound after Moore backhanded a shot that Bergenheim followed up and deposited past Neuvirth to give the Bolts a 3-1 lead at the 12:34 mark of the second period.
The two goal lead lasted all of 66 seconds as John Erskine just threw the puck at the net from a sharp angle from the left boards. It was Erskine's first goal of the playoffs and it went unassisted.
Bergeron had the game winner at the 5:07 mark of the third period as Sturm was in the sin bin for goalie interference. Bergeron uncorked a howitzer of a slap shot from the middle of the ice from about 50 feet away that whistled by Neuvirth on the stick side.
St. Louis capped off the Lightning scoring with 3:08 left in the game as he weaved his way into the zone and just wristed a shot by Neuvirth again on the stick side.
John Carlson was able to make the final score closer when the Caps had emptied their net and Washington was able to win a face off in the Lightning end. Carlson let go a slapper from the right point that founds it way through traffic and by Roloson but with 2:06 left in the game it was too little too late for the Capitals.
“Yeah, we’re definitely happy, but after every round we’re not popping champagne or anything," Malone said. "We know what our goal is and we have to keep to going and stay even keel. We haven’t done anything yet.”
The Lightning will now have over a week to heal up and get back players back like Simon Gagne and Pavel Kubina as they will need all the fire power they can get for the Conference Finals.