Caps Derail “The Orange Blossom Special,” Beat Bolts at Home

It started with a mugging and ended with a mild insult. And in between they derailed the Tampa Bay Lightning’s power play, “The Orange Blossom Special.”

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The Bolts were a “Train in Vain” (as sung by the only band that matters) on their Amalie Arena home ice Tuesday night, getting their collective cabooses spanked by the hard-charging Washington Capitals and their harder-charging leader, Alex Ovechkin, by a 5-3 score.

The teams meet again Saturday night in the nation’s capital. Don’t look for a peaceful resolution in the season finale between these two factions, who have now split a pair of games in Tampa. But Tuesday’s game sets the stage for some fire in the Lightning boilers as they were pushed around early and then had too little luck and too few bounces to make a comeback.

The mugging was immediate and startling. Right after the opening puck drop, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos had his stick ripped from his hands and kicked away from him, throwing him off his game and out of his lane. Then Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom dropped Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman in the corner and blocked him from getting up by lying on top of him.

With Stamkos and Stralman essentially eliminated, Ovechkin and his mates charged to the net. Ovechkin slapped a rebound past screened goaltender Ben Bishop and the Caps took a 1-0 lead. All this happened in the first 40 seconds of the game. No whistles. No penalties. No arrests. A mugging in plain view of thousands of witnesses.

The visiting Capitals kept up their aggressive play, pressuring the Lightning defense and slamming Bolts to the boards, taking a 12-5 advantage in shots before the Lightning skaters found their game legs. When Tampa Bay finally retaliated in the person of J. T. Brown, he was called for a boarding penalty. That put the NHL’s best (33%) road power play on the ice. The Bolts were in danger of falling behind by two goals.

But Ben Bishop stoned the Caps on the power play. And then Lightning star defenseman Victor Hedman took a shot from thepoint that was diverted into the net by Brian Boyle past a nifty screen set by Brenden Morrow. Game tied, 1-1. The comeback was on, maybe.

Cedric Paquette next stood up for his teammates, engaging Washington winger Tom Wilson. Both men were sent off for roughing. But Paquette earned an extra two minutes (for being rougher than Wilson?) and the premier power play was back on the ice. And this time the Caps made the Bolts pay. Defenseman Matt Niskanen promptly put a one-timer past Bishop and the Capitals took a 2-1 lead. Washington’s road power play was now at a ridiculous 34% for the season, 10-for-29.

The Bolts raised their intensity level from this point on, matching the Caps hit for hit and outshooting the Caps for the rest of the game.

Less than a minute into the second period Tampa Bay tied the score at 2-2 on a landmark goal by Steven Stamkos. Stammer parked himself in the middle of the high slot, his back to the goal. Winger Ryan Callahan won a puck on the left boards and center to his captain. Stamkos took the pass, spun to his left, and fired a wrist shot past Washington goaltender Braden Holtby.

The key goal not only tied the game but was the 250th of Stammer’s career. He joined the all-time NHL top ten for youngest player to score his 250th and for fewest games need to reach that mark. Stammer downplayed the importance of number 250, saying he preferred numbers with two zeroes on the end, but nobody downplayed the importance of that goal if the Lightning were to make a comeback.

Unfortunately for the Bolts, the tie was short-lived. Four minutes later Washington center Brooks Laich secured the right post and took two quick shots on Bishop from point-blank range, giving the Caps a 3-2 lead, a lead they never surrendered.

Not that the Lightning stopped trying. If anything, the Bolts had the better of the play and the worse of the breaks the rest of the way.

Dec 9, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom (19) falls on top of Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Ryan Callahan (24) during the first period at Amalie Arena. Bolts lose, 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The rest of the second period was virtually Bolts man-advantage time as the Caps took three penalties in under seven minutes. The Lightning, with the second best power play in the NHL — newly-dubbed “The Orange Blossom Special” after the classic Florida-themed bluegrass song — seemed sure to capitalize (pun intended).

The first power play made zero shots and ended with a Washington breakaway stopped by Bishop with a great poke check. The second power play saw better puck movement but no real scoring threats and ended with still another breakaway effort by Washington spoiled by Bishop. The third power play was a wild affair.

The Bolts earned bounteous zone time, made sharp passes, and then missed a score when Valtteri Filppula‘s shot hit the post and bounced directly under Holtby. Several Bolts said that moment was the turning point of the game. “The Orange Blossom Express” had been derailed.

The third period began with the buzz line of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, and Ondrej Palat controlling the puck and setting up numerous scoring opportunities, netting none. With the first six shots in the third period the Bolts now had a 26-21 shot advantage for the game (21-9 since midway through the first period), but the too little too late karma had fully taken hold.

Troy Brouwer carried Steven Stamkos on his back and scored a goal to make it 4-2. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper pulled Bishop. Filppula popped in a rebound with 3.2 seconds remaining to pull it to 4-3. On the ensuing face-off, Alex Ovechkin struck again, early and late, scoring into an empty net as time expired for the final 5-3 count.

Was Ovechkin’s last word an insult to the Bolts? We’ll find out Saturday night.

The Lightning loss, second in a row at home for the first time this season, dropped the Bolts to a still-resplendent 18-8-3 record, tied with the resurgent Red Wings for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. Despite the power outage Tampa Bay also became the first NHL team to break the 100-goal mark. Washington is now 13-10-4, third in the Metro Division.

The Bolts will try to regain some strut in Thursday’s home match with the Carolina Hurricanes before they head up to D. C. for the rubber match of the season series with the Capitals.

A little payback would be nice.

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