WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Washington Capitals have established a tradition of playing a game on New Year’s Day.  They’ve also established a dominance of their Southern Division foes, the Tampa Bay Lightning, at the Verizon Center.  The trend continued as the Caps received a goal from Mike Green and a goal and 2 assists from Alexander Ovechkin as they beat the Lightning 7-4 at the Verizon Center.

 

With Olaf Kolzig on the shelf with an upper body injury, Mike Smith started in goal for the Lightning with an 8-12-9 record and a 2.42 Goals Against Average versus Brent Johnson sporting a 10-5-2 record with a 2.52 GAA.  Johnson is 7-0-1 at home.    

The Tampa Bay Lightning is an interesting opponent for the Caps because of their active offseason.  The Lightning started the year by signing ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose as Head Coach and gave him control of hockey operations within the organization.  Then, they promptly dealt draft picks for wingers Ryan Malone and aging Gary Roberts to establish veteran leadership on the team.  Interestingly for Caps fans, they also went out and signed Olaf Kolzig to compete with Mike Smith for the starting goaltender position.  The #1 overall draft pick Steven Stamkos was the center of their marketing campaign in the Tampa Bay area as they attempted to create energy around the team.  Unfortunately, Melrose was fired after 14 games and the Lightning are currently in second to last place in the Southeast Division with 30 points, a distant 11 points away from the 8th playoff spot.

Early on in the New Year’s Game, Tampa Bay looked a bit sluggish, turning the puck over twice in their defensive zone.  Chris Bourque had a tremendous opportunity off a great steal and pass by David Steckel at the 29 second mark but was unable to convert as Mike Smith made a fantastic pad save moving to his right.  The sloppy play of the Lightning eventually cost them when Sean Collins ripped home a slap-shot from the top of the right circle off a pass from Alex Ovechkin to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead.  The other assist went to Sean Morrison, his fourth point of the season.  For Collins, the defensemen out of Troy, Michigan, it was his first NHL goal.  

Just two minutes later, Matt Bradley found David Steckel waiting on the far goalpost with a cross-ice pass that Steckel put top-shelf over the shoulder of Tampa goalie Mike Smith to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead, with the other assist coming from Matt Bradley, at the 7:02 mark.  The cross-ice pass seemed to be the flavor of the night for the Capitals as Mike Green finished off the period with his ninth goal of the year on a pass from Ovechkin and a great steal from Nicklas Backstrom, with his 32nd assist of the season at the 18:29 mark for a 3-0 first period advantage.  

The rest of the first period was fairly uneventful except for a great save by Brent Johnson on a Steven Stamkos power-play bid and an overall domination of play by the Capitals.  They outshot the Lightning 15 to 8 and controlled most the action in their offensive zone.  Ovechkin finished the period with two assists, raising his point total to 51 on the season.

The second period started with a flurry of action when Mike Smith denied David Steckel on a breakaway with a great poke check 30 seconds into the action.  Adam Hall tried to get the Lightning jump-started with a fight with Chris Clark with neither participant landing any worthwhile punches.  The fight seemed to spur on the Lightning’s top line as they countered quickly with a 2 on 1 goal from Vincent Lecavalier with assists from Vaclav Prospal and Martin St. Louis.  It was Lecavalier’s 15th goal of the season.  

Soon after the first Lightning goal, at the 2:37 mark, a Michael Nylander turnover produced the second Tampa Bay goal when Ryan Malone went top shelf on a pass from Jeff Halpern to make the score 3-2 Washington.  With some encouragement from a sold out Verizon Center, the Capitals countered only 9 seconds later when Tampa Bay Defenseman Marek Malik turned the puck over in the defensive zone, producing Matt Bradley’s 4th goal of the season with the assist going to Boyd Gordon.

In what is a rarity in the NHL, the Lightning were awarded a penalty shot on a very questionable call when Adam Hall stole a pass and walked in alone on Goalie Brent Johnson.  As Hall entered the offensive zone, Capital’s Defensemen Mike Green swung his stick and struck the puck cleanly before catching Hall around the ankles.  Luckily for Washington, Brent Johnson made a sprawling save to keep the score at 4-2 Washington.  Mike Smith answered Johnson’s save denying Victor Kozlov at the doorstep with 4:41 left in the second period to keep Tampa Bay within striking distance.

Late in the period, Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau was not happy when earlier goal scorer Sean Collins turned the puck over behind his own net, which led to a second goal from the Tampa Bay first line, again by Vincent Lecavalier, with his 16th goal of the season, assisted by St. Louis and Prospal.  On the difference between the first and second periods, Capitals forward Matt Bradley commented, ““It’s nice to get a lead. I think we kind of relaxed after that first period. I think we thought it was going to be an easy game. They’re still a great team and they have a lot of firepower over there. We definitely didn’t come out with the right attitude in the 2nd period.”  The second period closed with the Capitals outshooting Tampa Bay 29-19 on the game and taking a 4-3 lead into the final frame.  

The Capitals received an early power-play opportunity when Matt Smaby took down Mike Green in the neutral zone but their best scoring chance was denied when Chris Clark could not jam home a rebound in the slot area.  When Prospal entered the penalty box for hooking a few minutes later, the Capitals still could not convert in what would be characterized as a sloppy power play at best with only one shot on goal.

In what was a scary incident, Alex Ovechkin legally and cleanly hit Lightning defensemen Jamie Heward backwards into the boards.  He remained motionless on the ice and was taken off on a stretcher.  He was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.  No report was available on his condition at press time.  Martin St. Louis commented on his teammate after the game saying, ““Obviously you’re worried about him. We heard on the ice that he could move his extremities. So we felt pretty good about it – I mean as good as you can feel I guess. Then you got to concentrate on the game and let the people handle him. You worry and you try to go out and play for him [Heward].”

In one of the stranger plays anyone will ever witness at a hockey game, Tampa Goalie Mike Smith passed the puck to Washington Forward Boyd Gordon who slotted it in the net for 5-3 Caps advantage 8:07 mark of 3rd period.  The goal was unassisted.  Answering for Tampa Bay in the back and forth affair was the veteran Mark Recchi with his ninth goal of the year on a shot that rang the crossbar before going into the net.  The assist went to Martin St. Louis.  Only 8 seconds later, the Capitals answered with a goal by Captain Chris Clark to push the Washington lead back up to 6-4 with 7:13 left in the game.  Michael Nylander and Mike Green had the assists on the Clark goal.  Ovechkin sealed the game for the Capitals with a breath-taking drive down the left hand wing and a wrist shot to beat Mike Smith five-hole to give the Capitals a commanding 7-4 advantage.       

During the season, the Lightning gave up 32.2 shots on goal, which ranks second worst in the NHL behind the Florida Panthers, and the trend continued in the District of Columbia as the Caps peppered Mike Smith with 35 shots.  

The Capitals will take on the New York Rangers at 7 pm Saturday Night at the Verizon Center while Tampa Bay will return home to play the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:30 at the St. Pete Times Arena.  

- Game Notes

The Capitals hold a 15-1-1 home record this season, second best behind the San Jose Sharks, who are 18-0-2 at home.

The Lightning have lost five consecutive games to the Capitals dating back to November 16, 2007.

Tonight marks the return of Olaf Kolzig, Jeff Halpern, Matt Pettinger and Steve Eminger to the Verizon Center, all Lightning players who have played at least 200 games previously for the Capitals.

Even with offensive talent like Vincent Lacavalier, Martin St. Louis, Vaclav Prospal and Steven Stamkos, the Lightning have scored the second least goals in the NHL.

Olaf Kolzig was a scratch for the game with an “upper body” injury which has been rumored to be a shoulder issue.  He is expected to be back in net for the Lightning in about one week.