Capitals Vs. Lightning, Game 3: Tampa Bay Rallies Back To Win, Take 3-0 Series Lead

There’s Guy Boucher, the rookie bench boss of the Lightning, talking about how his team is so good at coming back from the edge late in hockey games.

“I think everything’s a habit, and we’ve made it a habit this year to believe that in third periods, we can make it happen. It’s all in the mind.”

The Washington Capitals appeared to have all of the momentum after their fantastic second period, in which they scored three goals and took a one goal lead, but they were shut out in the third by the Tampa Bay Lightning, as the home side won the game by a final score of 4-3, giving them a 3-0 series lead and a chance to sweep the series on home ice in two days.

In contrast to the first two periods, the Lightning were the much better team in the third period, and the Caps have Neuvirth’s goaltending and some luck to thank for the fact that they even had a chance to force overtime at the end of the game, as Tampa Bay could have very easily scored four or more goals in the period. Though, referring to a team who is down 3-0 in a playoff series as “lucky” probably won’t sit well with their fans. In any event, Washington is in a hole that they will find it very hard to get out of.

The Washington Capitals have finally begun to capitalize on their numbers advantage in shots on goal, as well as some bad penalties by the Tampa Bay Lighting. As a result, they lead by a score of 3-2 after the second period, and they will be carrying some serious momentum into the final 20 minutes.

The game can be seen on Versus and TSN at 6:30 p.m. ET. Yes, 6:30. It’s a weird time.

For more on the game and the series, check in with our Lightning vs. Capitals hub and our blogs: Japers’ Rink on the Capitals and Raw Charge on the Lightning.