In Tampa Bay Monday, the Lightning were facing the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin who had scored hat tricks in his fist two games and were concentrated on his exploits.
But it was the Bolts’ Brayden Point who stole the show with a goal late in extra time to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 win.
In the process, the Lightning held Ovechkin ff the scoresheet.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves to get the win while holding off Ovechkin.
Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn, and Chris Kunitz scored for the Bolts in regulation.
“He’s (Point) had a great start for us,” Killorn said. “From playing with him last year and at the World Championship you can tell he’s a great talent. He never makes any mistakes. He is one of those reliable guys and he makes huge plays at big times in the game.”
The Caps built a 3-1 lead on two goals from T.J. Oshie and a single marker from Nicklas Backstrom.
“We didn’t do a great job of playing 200-foot hockey,” Oshie said. “Once we got the lead it’s almost like we sat back and almost played a little too passive. [Grubauer] held them off for as long as he could back there. He had a great night.”
But Tampa Bay rallied to get the game to overtime.
“We had a couple of chances to make it 4-1,” Caps head coach Barry Trotz said. “We didn’t and they chipped away and there was too much time on the clock.”
[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Lightning highlights]
Philipp Grubauer made 40 saves in taking the loss.
“You have to play as good as you can against these guys. You can’t let them have any space out there because then they are going to score. We should have had this game. After 3-1 we should have shut them down, Backstrom said after the game.
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