If the Washington Capitals are not to win the Stanley Cup this season it won’t be because of a sense of urgency or fight or even a hangover after beating their nemesis Pittsburgh Penguins. These Capitals have an attitude of refusing to go away easily.
In Sunday’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final, the Capitals found themselves in a dog fight with the Tampa Bay Lightning trailing 2-1 at the start of the second period. Following a Devante Pelly-Smith goal they tied the game at 2-2.
With a back-and-forth battle the rest of the period it appeared, the game was headed into the second intermission tied. That is until the Capitals offense caught fire, scoring two goals in the final 62 seconds of the period to grab control of the game.
The first came off the stick of Lars Eller, as he tipped in a beautiful feed from Jakub Vrana at the 18:58 mark of the period.
Lars & in charge! 🔥
Watch the #StanleyCup Playoffs here → https://t.co/jJKrr7kggG pic.twitter.com/YKNQoikfCT
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) May 14, 2018
Then after a tripping penalty was charged to Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, Washington capitalized with the power play as Evgeny Kuznetsov fired a shot from the corner that got through Vasilevskiy’s skates to push the Caps’ lead to 4-2 with 2.9 seconds remaining.
Washington is looking to improve 7-1 on the road this postseason and take a strong 2-0 series lead.
