In Washington, DC, the Capitals controlled much of their game with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
Alex Ovechkin scored in the middle frame to give the Caps a 1-0 lead they protected through to the early minutes of the third period.
Tampa’s Mikhail Sergachev tied the game in the fifth minute of the third.
“They’re tough to play against, obviously, so it took a long shot from the blue line to score on them,” Sergachev said. “It doesn’t happen much. I wouldn’t call it lucky, but their goalie played well. They played tight defensively and we found a way to find an opening for a shot and I scored.”
That left it to Steve Stamkos who potted the game-winner with 15 seconds left in extra time for a 2-1 Lightning win.
“I put my head down and skated hard,” Stamkos said. “I didn’t know exactly how much time was left. I knew it was probably the last rush of the game, so I was going to shoot it and it was nice to see it go in.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves for the win.
“I wouldn’t have predicted it going to overtime and us taking a penalty and killing it off,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “So there was a lot of just huge moments in the game for us, but from start to finish I liked a lot of what went on.”
Ovechkin has three goals on the season.
“I think today was an interesting game,” Ovechkin said. “We don’t give them much, they don’t give us much. Overall, I think it was a good game.”
Nikita Kucherov did not ice for the Bolts in the final half of the third period.
Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves in the loss.
“I thought it was a little bit quiet for him in the first period, but then in the second period he had to make some saves,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said of Vanecek. “They’ve got a lot of firepower, and so with that you know you’re going to have to throw in a good game. I thought he did that.”
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