Andre Burakovsky Scores Two Beauties to Pad Capitals Lead in Game 7

The Washington Capitals have inched closer to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 20 years. Thanks in large to back-to-back goals by Andre Burakovsky, the Capitals take a 3-0 lead into the second intermission of Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

First, Burakovsky picked the pocket of Tampa Bay Lightning’s Dan Girardi. Burakovsky then sniped the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy 8:59 into the second period.

Burakovsky was not finished. Nearly eight minutes later, John Carlson corralled the loose puck before finding a charging Burakovsky who had got behind the Lightning defense. Burakovsky took the puck with aggression and beat Vasilevskiy going five-hole for his second goal of the night.

The play put silence over Tampa’s Amalie Arena. Washington has now scored eight unanswered goals in the series. Tampa Bay jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 21 minutes of Game 5. Since then, the series has been all the Capitals.

Washington scored the final two goals of that game 5 and was a Vasilevskiy stone save on John Carlson in the waning seconds away from tying the game. The Capitals took that momentum into Game 6 in D.C., shutting out the Lightning 3-0.

Now, the Capitals have buried the first three goals of Game 7 with Burakovsky tipping two. The Capitals are now 20 minutes away from winning the Eastern Conference