Tampa Bay Lightning Win Streak Snapped By Streaking Washington Capitals

The Tampa Bay Lightning gave new meaning to Black Friday as they have their win streak snapped in a 4-2 loss to the streaking Washington Capitals.

The Tampa Bay Lightning headed to the Verizon Center in the Nation’s Capital tonight in the hopes of extending their win streak to four games with a win over captain Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Unfortunately, the only thing the Bolts accomplished tonight was giving the term Black Friday a whole new meaning for Lightning fans.

The Washington Capitals set the tone very early in the game. It was only 5:17 into the first period when the Tampa Bay Lightning would receive their first penalty. As Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman sat in the box for two minutes for High Sticking Capitals right wing T.J. Oshie.

This opened the door for the Capitals to score their first goal, which they did just before the time expired on the Power Play. It would be the captain himself, Alex Ovechkin, who would bring home the first goal for the Capitals. The Lightning struggled to regain control of the puck in their own zone. Ovechkin stood, completely uncovered, to Andrei Vasilevskiy’s stick side. Before Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison could even turn around to attempt to cover Ovechkin, the damage had been done and the puck was in the back of the net.

When the buzzer would sound to end the agony known as the first period, the Capitals would outshoot the Lightning 18-9. Unfortunately, when the Lightning would take the ice for the second period of play, things wouldn’t get much better for the struggling Lightning.

It may have taken until the final minutes of the second period for another puck to find its way into the back of the net, but there is one thing for sure…the second period was once again all about the Washington Capitals.

With just under four minutes left in the second period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would once again find themselves in the penalty box for two minutes. This time, it would be Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn who would take a seat in the sin bin for Delay of Game.

Once again, the Washington Capitals would make the most of the man advantage, and with less than two seconds left in the Power Play, Capitals left wing Jason Chimera would redirect a well-placed shot from Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov and sink the puck past Vasilevskiy.

Just when you think things can’t possibly get any worse, well…they do. Once again, the Capitals have their man planted in front of the net. Capitals defenseman John Carlson hands the puck off to Marcus Johansson who deflects the puck straight past Vasilevskiy and into the back of the net. When the buzzer sounded to end the second period of play, the Tampa Bay Lightning would trail the Capitals 3-0.

We have no idea what Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper said to the team during the second intermission, but whatever it was certainly seemed to wake up the dormant Lightning offense and light a fire under their backsides like never before.

After being outshot 18-9 in the first period and 13-5 in the second period, the Lightning would turn on the afterburners and outshoot the Capitals 20-6 in the third period. Not for nothing, but maybe if the Tampa Bay Lightning had shown some of this aggression during the first two periods of play, this may be a very different game.

The period would start off much like the first two periods of play. Once again, for the fourth time tonight to be exact, the Washington Capitals would find themselves with the man advantage. This time, it would be Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr in the box for two minutes for Hooking Capitals center Michael Latta. Just over the halfway point in the Power Play, Capitals right wing T.J. Oshie would make it 4-0 Capitals.

Finally, the Tampa Bay Lightning had enough. It was time for them to kick things into high gear. The Tampa Bay Lightning would be battling for puck possession in the Capitals zone. Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman does a good job of playing the puck through the Capitals defense and keeping the puck in the zone. Callahan would make his way along the boards near the stick side of the net when he would release a beautiful backhanded pass that would make its way to the stick of Lightning center Brian Boyle. Boyle would catch Capitals netminder Braden Holtby completely unawares and register the first goal for the Bolts.

Just over two minutes later, the Tampa Bay Lightning would bring the pressure directly to Holtby once again. The Tampa Bay Lightning would once again battle for possession in the Capitals zone. Lightning center Vladislav Namestnikov would regain control of the puck and center it out to Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman who would send the puck sailing past Holtby and into the back of the net.

Unfortunately, this is what we call a case of “too little too late.” The time would continue to tick off the clock second after agonizing second, and when the buzzer would finally sound, the Tampa Bay Lightning would see their win streak wither away as the Capitals extend their current win streak to four.

One of the biggest issues in tonight’s game is the complete and utter collapse of the penalty kill unit. The Capitals were extended four opportunities with the man advantage tonight, and they were somehow able to capitalize on three of them. One or two Power Play goals can be the unfortunate result of a hot offense, but three…that is a plain and simple collapse of the penalty kill.

Another contributor to tonight’s loss was the Lightning’s complete lack of aggression in the first two periods of play. In the first 40 minutes of play, the Tampa Bay Lightning only managed to put 14 shots on goal. Fourteen. Shots. On. Goal. While we have always been a proponent of quality over quantity, this is a little much. As we said before, if the Lightning had shown half the aggression in the first two periods as they did in the third, this would have been a very different conversation we are having right now.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are going to get another shot at success this weekend as they head home to the Amalie Arena to go one-on-one with the New York Islanders. There is certainly a lot of work that needs to be done if the Bolts are going to pull out a win over the Isles. Hopefully, they can channel some of their frustration from tonight’s loss into a more high-powered offense tomorrow night.

The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 p.m. Make sure to stay connected right here to Bolts By The Bay as we bring you all the latest Tampa Bay Lightning, news, updates, commentary, and more.