The Tampa Bay Lightning continues to amaze.
Heading into game two against the Capitals, the thought was there would be a renewed sense of urgency for the number one seed in the east. The thought was that the Lightning would be up against it when taking to the ice against the “hockey machine,” as Guy Boucher referred to them after game one. But on Sunday night, it would be David striking again with the mighty sling shot to take down Goliath for the second straight game on home ice as Vincent Lecavalier scored just over six minutes into the first overtime to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead in the best of 7 series.
The game started out with both teams swapping scoring opportunities early in the first period before the Lightning got into some penalty trouble. After the Capitals killed an early power play opportunity for the Lightning, the Lightning would take three consecutive penalties in just over six minutes. The penalty kill, which has been a major strength for the Lightning in this postseason run, was once again on top of its game on this night, and killing off all three of those penalties was a huge turning point for the Lightning moving forward.
The Lightning would get their own chance with the extra man late in the period when Alex Ovechkin was sent off for high sticking Brett Clark and the Lightning would strike first. With some great passing from Marty St. Louis to find Vincent Lecavalier in the right circle who one timed a bomb to beat Washington goaltender Michal Neuvirth to give the Lightning the lead, something that has been huge all postseason for this team.
And it was a lead they would take into the intermission, impressive considering they got outshot 11-6.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2011.
