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Home ice advantage? That doesn’t seem to be the case in theEastern Conference Finalbetween theTampa Bay Lightningand theWashington Capitals. TheCapshave won both games inTampa, so in order to stay alive theBoltsneeded to snag a win inWashington. Teams that have lost the first two games at home in theConference Finalshave only ever come back to win twice, so the odds were stacked against theLightninggoing into game three.
Right off the cuffTampawas playing like this was a must win game. The defence was tight giving up low quality chances buying the offence time to open the scoring. The opening goal would come at fourteen minutes in on the powerplay, courtesy ofSteven Stamkos. He’d blast a one-timer from the right side faceoff dot past the glove arm ofBraden Holtbyfor the 1-0 lead. TheCapsout shotTampa14-10 in the opening frame but trailed 1-0 after one, and things didn’t exactly get any better for them in the second.
I think the moral of the story for this game is don’t giveTampapowerplay opportunities. Two minutes into the secondNikita Kucherovwould get a powerplay goal almost identical toStamkos’earlier tally on the opposite side ofHoltby. Now up 2-0 theBoltsweren’t done there because a couple minutes laterVictor Hedmanmade it 3-0. There was no help forHoltbyon the play asHedmanwas left alone in the slot with a yawning cage to deposit the puck. The crowd would get something to cheer about midway through the period asBrett Connollywould put theCapson the board.Andrei Vasilevskiycould do little to stop the one-timer as it was perfectly placed over the shoulder cutting the lead to 3-1. This didn’t seem to sit well with theLightningas they’d restore the three goal lead with four minutes to go in the second.Brayden Pointwould put a squeaker pastHoltbyon the short side making it 4-1 after two.Washingtonagain had the edge in shots at 11-8 but weren’t getting many good opportunities, and with only a period to go things weren’t looking up for theCaps.
Not much happened in the third until the final three minutes. With the goalie pulledEvgeny Kuznetsovwould put the puck in the net on an impossible angle. The shot was taken around the goal line and went right under the bar for the 4-2 score. This is as close as theCapswould come however as the barrage in the third came up short for the 4-2Tampawin. Not from lack of trying however as theCapsagain out shotTampa13-5 in the third and 38-23 in the game. Game four will beThursday May 17th in Washingtonwhere we’ll either have a tied series, or make the following games forTampaall elimination games.
Maxwell Mantik
Articles Published :42
Maxwell Mantik was born in Calgary Alberta and currently lives in a hamlet about half an hour outside the city. A graduate of SAIT Polytechnic, he’s been writing for fun for over 7 years (mostly script and novel themed). His voice acting worked has been featured in films at the Vancouver film festival, and has worked on 7 short films. His interests include superheros, sci-fi, fantasy, acting, writing, hockey, and shooting guns (because he likes to think he’s edgy).
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