Lazy Lightning lose control, Capitals take series lead

By: Conor Duncan

    The Tampa Bay Lightning have some serious soul searching to do. After 2 dominant rounds of playoff hockey, the Lightning looked like the team to beat, but then after 2 devastating losses to the Washington capitals this weekend, the tides seem to have changed.
   
     Game one of this series saw Tampa open on home ice, with no injuries to the lineup and a solid week of downtime, and with how well the bolts had been performing so far it seemed as though the Stanley cup final would be inevitable.... but The Caps had different plans. The caps took game on 4-2 and it though it seems like they got dismantled, there were a few key performances to be proud of. First off, Tampa played great 5 on 5 hockey. Most of the Capitals goals came off of a great power play from the Ovechkin line. Tampa got killed by taking needless penalties and letting emotions get the better of them, and if they regrouped and worked out the kinks a little bit, they would be fine for game 2 .... right?

    WRONG! Sunday night ended in a 6-2 Victory for the Washington Capitals and a commanding 2-0 series lead. This game started out with an early goal from the caps, but was quickly equalized by Brayden Point. The Bolts very own Steven Stamkos then connected on a power play goal to make the score 2-1. For the rest of the first and most of the second period, the Bolts seemed to control play in the offensive zone, and then the caps scored twice in the span of one minute. After that you could see that all of Tampa had given up. The fans piled out of Amalie Arena, Nobody got back on defense, they waited way to long to take shots, and overall just didn’t seem to want to play and that is a huge problem for a team who is competing for the Stanley Cup.

    So what does this mean? The stats do not go in Tampa bays favor. Out of all the teams that have gone down 2-0  only 4% have come out on top. The Bolts definitely have their work cut out for them.  But even in all of this there is a glimmer of hope. The Washington capitals have played all of their tricks. They have played two of their best games that they have ever played, and chances are they will flat line at that level if they even keep their form. Tampa however has played two of their worst games, and if they can make a statement in Washington from and pull out a win playing their BEST hockey, they can get some momentum to rally behind. In order to do this however, they simply just have to stop thinking negatively. Everyone in that locker room has got to brush off games one and two and play like it’s the last day they will ever see the ice. Every single player has got to have their eyes on the prize and play the fast, physical game that Tampa Bay is used to. It’s that simple. On paper, Tampa bay is the most likely out of all four teams in their respective finals to win the cup, and The Capitals are the LEAST likely to do the same, so why are they controlling this series?  Simple, Tampa just doesn’t want it as badly. They underestimated this team and they have been complacent, and there is no room for that in the playoffs. If they can realize that now and go into Capital One arena Tuesday night and play a game to be proud of, there is no doubt that they could turn this series around.



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