Bolts tip Caps in game one thriller
The nation’s capital played host to game 1 of the eastern conference semi-finals, as Vincent Lecavalier’s Tampa Bay Lightning travelled to the Verizon Center to face Alexander Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals. The Caps came in to the game following a 5 day rest after brushing the New York Rangers aside 4-1 with ease. However, the Lightning had a harder series and forced a 7th game against the favoured Pens, going on to beat them 1-0 to end an exhilarating series, courtesy of Sean Bergenheim’s goal.
The puck was dropped in front of a sell out crowd at the Verizon Center, the Capitals won it and controlled it in their own zone. The game burst into life after just 1 minute as the Lightning centred the puck which went through everybody and sailed through Nuevirth’s crease. Tampa Bay started well, controlling the puck and forcing chances and they gained a deserved lead after just 2 minutes and 12 seconds. Dowdy went hard to the net and fired a shot, with Sean Bergenheim quickly following the up and poking Nuevirth’s pads which lead to the puck trickling agonisingly passed the Washington goal line, giving the games opening goal.
The Caps fans were stunned, but not for long as the game suddenly turned on its head. After the Bolts comfortably controlled the first 4 minutes, they gave away the puck trying to make a clearance in their own zone, with Alex Semin pouncing and slotting the puck through Dwayne Roloson’s legs. The goal was timed at 4:08 and lead to the sea of red around the stadium going wild. The caps were fired up resulting in some big hits being put in including a huge hit from Hannan on Gagne who seemed to be knocked out, but after staying down for a while got to his feet and returned later in the game. The caps had their tails up, and the famous Russian Alexander Ovechkin casually dropped the puck back through his legs and Carlsson had a huge slap shot only to be denied by Dwayne Roloson’s right pad.
Just after 10 minutes into the game brought the first penalty – delay of game by Washington’s Shultz. The Bolt’s powerplay had been firing on all cylinders against the Pens, but they severely struggled against the Caps and didn’t put one shot on net throughout the 2 minutes.
With 6 minutes remaining in the period, Tampa hadn’t registered a shot on net in 7 minutes, and the Caps piled on the pressure with a goal looming around the corner. The goal inevitably came courtesy of Laich, but was later ruled out after review due to a kicking motion, and the boos were heard after referee Kevin Pollock broke the news of the No goal. The Caps soon had another big chance though as the Bolt’s Clarke was pinged for the second delay of game. The caps went on the powerplay with ‘let’s go caps’ being chanted from the fans. Washington controlled the zone but could only fire 1 shot in on Dwayne Roloson. The very entertaining period came to a close with the score locked at 1-1 with Roloson saving 12 and Nuevirth saving 8.
Going into the second period and the Bolts gained possession of the puck at the face off, controlled it in the defensive zone, but then sent it down the rink to produce the first icing call of the period. The caps had their first offensive chance of the period from an attacking face off, and the Verizon Center soon erupted as Marcus Johansson won the draw and the puck fell to Jason Chimera, who centred to find Eric Fehr alone in front of goal to easily slot past Dwayne Roloson. Some poor defending from the Bolts had let the Caps take the lead, was this the changing point of the game? The goal was timed at 1:51.
‘Let’s go caps’ rang around the stadium again, in a superb atmosphere as Tampa Bay struggled to find rhythm in the second period. But a great move allowed Ryan Malone to rip one on target, only to be denied by a stunning glove save from the big Czech in between the pipes. The Bolts were coming back into the game and had a huge chance to equalise when Washington’s Boyd Gordon was put in the box for slashing. However, the Bolts’ superb powerplay in previous playoff games once again struggled to function as they got just got 1 shot on net.
With 9 minutes on the clock, the Caps had a huge chance to put the game to bed but were only to be denied by a double save from the Canadian in the Lightning net, and then a goal line save by defenseman Eric Brewer on the line from the rebound. After this extraordinary piece of play, the pressure on the Bolts was released as Hendericks was put in the bin after 12:51 had been played, giving TB a much needed powerplay. This was a wasted powerplay though due to Pavel Kubina being penalised a minute in to it, resulting in 4 on 4 hockey, but no team could create chances.
3 minutes after this play, the Bolts got the goal they had been searching for, as Caps goalie Neuvirth ripped one around the boards that went straight to Teddy Purcell, who found Downie in front of goal, and he slotted it in off Nuevirth’s stick from a seemingly tight angle.
The game was nicely poised at 2-2, and with exactly 2 minutes remaining in the period, the changing point in the match came; a Tampa powerplay courtesy of roughing by 31 year old Jason Chimera. It didn’t look good for the surging Bolts early on, as they once again struggled to function on the powerplay offering no shots in the first minute. However, the first shot of the powerplay brought the first powerplay goal of the night, as Malone hustled hard along the boards to retain possession, and Eric Brewer centred to Steven Stamkos, who scored nicely of his backhand to net the Bolts’ 9th powerplay goal of the playoffs.. After a hectic but even period, the Bolts went to the changing rooms with a 3-2 lead.
It was time for the highly anticipated 3rd period, but surely it had to calm down a bit? And it did. The final period got off to a slow start, as only a few chances were recorded in the first five minutes, but the pumped up Verizon crowd remained loud. After 6 minutes, the Caps had a powerplay, but once again didn’t fire one shot on the in-form Roloson. Tampa skated straight down the other end after the powerplay only to be stopped by the Crossbar of the Washington net. This lead to a surge of pressure from the Bolts, recording 4 shots in just 30 seconds, but they couldn’t find a way past the 6 ft 1 Washington keeper. The game entered the final stages as the Caps gained control of the puck and Nuevirth skated swiftly to the bench for the extra skater with 1:10 remaining. They crucially lost the puck straight away though, as Hedman took the puck away and released Hall who fired a shot which rattled the iron, but the Canadian Dominic Moore put the rebound home to deservedly win the game for the Bolts.
