In Washington, DC,the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning had to deal with the Capitals, and a mugging by Tom Wilson.
At some point, the NHL has to do something with Wilson before a player is irrevocably injured.
Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves in the win.
“Everything matters right now, every single moment,” Lindgren said. “It’s certainly something that none of us are taking for granted. We realize how fun this is playing in environments like these, and it’s been an absolute blast. We’ve got two games here left and obviously just lay it all out there.”
The Capitals moved to 38-31-11, and are now tied for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“I think he’s just a gamer,” the Caps’ John Carlson said of Lindgren. “When the stakes are high, when the chips are on the table, he seems to come up big all the time and we wouldn’t even be close to where we are right now vying for a playoff spot without him.”
Sonny Milano, who hit for a double for the Capitals, staked them to a 1-0 lead 9:56 of the opening stanza.
Anthony Duclair replied for the Lightning at 13:06, tying the game, 1-1.
Milano collected his double at 14:00, for a 2-1 lead to Washington.
Brandon Hagel knotted the game, 2-2, at 16:24,
The Lightning dropped to 44-28-8 off their third loss in four matches.
“I think we just could have been a little more desperate,” Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh said. “[The Capitals] are trying to get into the playoffs and they played right until the end and we kind of let up a little bit and they took some momentum and they capitalized.”
The score remained tied, 2-2, into the third period.
Carlson pushed the Caps into a 3-2 lead with a power play goal at 8:29 of the third.
“To not be deterred just because we didn’t score on the 5-on-3 … to not just throw in the towel, it’s a big, big moment in that game,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “Even though we don’t score on that 5-on-3, to find that one on the back half was obviously the difference.”
Nic Dowd scored off an errant puck at 16:46 for the 4-2 final.
“There was 20 minutes to play, and the game was tied, so dig in here for a bit,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “And we just made some mental errors. One was on the penalty and then the fourth goal is you just can’t make the plays we made in the D-zone and allow that kind of stuff to happen.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves in the loss.
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