The Washington Capitals dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first period of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final. The Caps out-shot the Lightning 9-2 in the first, and scored two goals in the process to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
The second goal came just seconds before the end of the period. The Capitals got on the power play after Tampa Bay was called for too many men on the ice. The face-off to start the man advantage came at 7.1 seconds remaining. Evgeny Kuznetsov won the face-off, John Carlson kicked the puck to a waiting Alex Ovechkin, who fired off the shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy to give Washington the 2-0 lead four seconds into the power play.
WHAT A TURN OF EVENTS! @OVI8 MAKES IT 2-0! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/w7vT4GM8ul
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 12, 2018
Lightning appeared to have tied the game at 1-1 when Nikita Kucherov beat Braden Holtby just before the end of the first. However, review showed Tampa had too many men on the ice. The goal was waved off and the penalty was assessed on the Lightning.
Kucherov's goal was called back because of a Too Many Men penalty. The Bolts clearly had 6 players on the ice. pic.twitter.com/9oKy68eOYE
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) May 12, 2018
Ovehckin and the Capitals took advantage lighting the lamp immediately off the face-off. The goal was Ovechkin’s ninth of the postseason.
Washington is playing in their first Eastern Conference Final in 20 years, while this is Ovechkin’s first appearance in his 13-year career.
