As it turns out, David has one heck of a slingshot.
The Tampa Bay Lightning completed a four-game sweep of the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night at the St. Pete Times Forum with a 5-3 victory over the #1 seeded Capitals, booking themselves a date in the Eastern Conference Finals against the winner of the series between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers.
“Everyone is really coming together,” forward Ryan Malone said. “Everyone cares for each other, and it's really starting to become fun.”
The Lightning would strike first on the power play when Vincent Lecavalier found Ryan Malone at the goal mouth and had the puck deflect off him into the goal. For Malone, it was his third goal of the postseason and second in consecutive games. The Capitals would get it right back though when, on a power play of their own, a Brett Clark clearing attempt somehow deflected straight in the air and into the crease. Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson didn’t see it and inadvertently kicked it into his own net.
Overall it was not a bad start for the Lightning; they controlled the pace of the game in the early going and had an early 6-2 advantage in shots. The Capitals would end up with a 12-11 shot advantage after 20 minutes, though.
This article appears in May 5-11, 2011.