Lightning shutdown Capitals in Game 4 to even series: 3 takeaways
What did we learn from the Tampa Bay Lightning getting even and defeating the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals?
The Tampa Bay Lightning did not play their best game in Game 4 against the Washington Capitals, but they still managed a 4-2 victory behind the brilliance of Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Alex Killorn made a quick move in front of the Washington goal, sliding the puck between the legs of Braden Holtby to give Washington a 3-2 lead. That goal would hold up for the Lightning, who tied the Eastern Conference Finals at two games apiece.
As they’ve done three times in this series, the Washington Capitals got on the board first. Dmitry Orlov made a nice spin move at the blue line to the keep the play alive. Seconds later, after the puck made its way behind the net to T.J. Oshie, Orlov fired a one-timer past Vasilevskiy.
Before Orlov’s name could be announced over the loudspeaker, Brayden Point finished off a beautiful passing play set up by Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde. Steven Stamkos remained hot, whipping a rolling puck past Holtby and into the net to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.
Alex Ovechkin sprung Evgeny Kuznetsov on a partial breakaway five minutes into the second period. Kuznetsov made no mistake with his shot, sniping the puck through the pads of Vasilevskiy to tie the game at two.
Anthony Cirelli added a empty net goal for Tampa Bay.
Takeaways
Washington was the better team. And sometimes, the better team doesn’t win. Full credit to Vasilevskiy, who played his best game of the series by far. He kept Tampa Bay in the game when they were outshot 15-7 and was a big reason the Capitals went 0-4 on the power play.
Vasilevskiy faced a lot of criticism after allowing 10 goals in the first two games. If the puck were a metaphor for criticism in these last two games, the Tampa netminder has shut that nonsense down.
Still, the Lightning can’t feel too great with how they played in Game 4. The Capitals have been the better team in three of the four games. It’s a best-of-three series thanks to the Russian goaltender.
Tampa Bay power play strikes again. The boxscore will say the Lightning went 1-2 on the power play. Sometimes, numbers lie. Alex Killorn’s game-winning-goal came seconds after the penalty to Lars Eller had expired. By the time Killorn slid the puck past Holtby, Eller wasn’t even in the picture.
The Lightning used the momentum from the power play, and Ellers tardiness, to steal Game 4 in Washington. This power play has been a problem all series, scoring in each of the four games. Stamkos in particular has been lethal. He has four goals in the series, all coming with a man advantage. Note to Washington, you may want to put a body on the guy who finished the regular season fifth in power play goals.
Can anyone win at home? The road teams are 2-0 in this series. Unfortunately for the Lightning, they have home ice disadvantage. Washington just needed to win one of the two games at home after taking both games in Tampa Bay. They laid an egg in Game 3. They did everything they could to win Game 4, but ran into a hot goaltender.
Maybe it just isn’t in the cards for the home team in this series. Tampa Bay certainly has to play better than they did in Games 1 and 2 if they want to reverse the trend and take Game 5. In fact, they need to play better than they did in Game 4 if they want to close things out in Game 6.
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The roads teams have found a way to get it done during this series. Maybe the Lightning players should spend the night at the hotel prior to Game 5.