Game #78 Recap - Capitals 4 Lightning 3 (OT)

Another nail bitting overtime victory for the Caps. It took 2:27 of overtime before the Tomas Fleischmann of the Capitals finally put away the Tampa Bay Lightning. With the Tampa goalie scrambling to cover a loose puck Brooks Laich was able to pass to a wide open Fleischmann who buried the puck for the victory. The win allowed the Caps to keep pace with the Boston Bruins who defeated Toronto last night. This was a good win for the Caps who have won four of five on this road trip and have another game in Florida tomorrow. The game was a hard fought victory as the Caps twice took one goal leads only to have Tampa come back and score. Tampa took the lead early in the third and the Caps came back with a goal late to tie it up and send it to overtime. This is what happens when teams play as many times as the Caps and and Bolts have played each other over the last three seasons. Each team knows each other inside and out and its a grind it out type game. Tampa really made life difficult in the neutral zone and frustrated the Caps vertical game. The Caps had a standout performance from Sergei Fedorov who set up Brooks Laich to open the game with a shorthanded goal and then set up up Alexander Semin's game tying goal with a face-off win in the third period. Cristobal Huet played an excellent game in goal making several spectacular saves to keep the game close. With 4 games remaining the Caps are 2 points behind the Bruins in the playoff race. For the Caps the need to follow the advice of Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis and "Just win, baby."

Of Note:

• Brooks Laich recorded his 20th goal of the season, a career best. It was his 2nd shorthanded goal on the year and he assisted on Fleischmann's game-winner.
• Matt Bradley scored his 7th goal of the year, assisted by Tom Poti and Jeff Schultz.
• Boyd Gordon played in his 200th career NHL game. He was a plus-1 with 1 shot on goal and 2 blocked shots.
• The Capitals out shot Tampa 32-26 and led in face-off wins 35-28.
• Cristobal Huet finished with 23 saves in the win giving him a 7-2-0 record since coming over from Montreal.
• Alexander Semin's goal was the 72nd of his career and tied him with Chris Simon at 33rd on the Caps All-Time Goals list. His 134th point ties him with Richard Zednik at 45th on the All-Time Points list.

Official Recap
Game Summary
Super Stats