The Tampa Bay Lightning erased a two-goal deficit to defeat the Washington Capitals 4-3 in overtime at AMALIE Arena. The Bolts are now 2-1-0 three games into the 2017-18 season.
Period One
Throughout most of the first period, things appeared to be pretty even between the Lightning and the Capitals. Each team had their moments when they were the team in control of the game. Unfortunately, Washington would look like the better team heading into the locker room for the first intermission with a two-goal lead.
Nicklas Backstrom ended the scoreless tie 16:42 into the period with his first goal of the season. T.J. Oshie would then make it 2-0 less than two minutes later on the Capitals first powerplay opportunity of the game.
Tampa Bay experienced a man advantage on two separate occasions in the first. Unfortunately, they could not translate any of those opportunities into goals.
Period Two
The Lightning would look to make a statement early in the second period and Alex Killorn was the player that answered the call. He fired a laser of a shot for his first goal of the season and shortened the Capitals lead to just one.
Unfortunately, Washington responded rather quickly and took a 3-1 lead 7:49 into the period. Oshie recorded his second power-play goal of the game, taking away any sort of momentum the Bolts had gained from the Killorn goal.
The Capitals would maintain that lead for most of what remained in the period. Chris Kunitz eventually brought the Lightning back to only trailing by one with his first goal of the season. Tampa Bay would enter the second intermission trailing Washington 3-2.
The most noticeable difference between the two teams at this point involved special teams. The Capitals were successful on two of their four power-play opportunities while the Bolts could not generate anything on their three chances with a man advantage.
Period Three
The third period was completely controlled by the Tampa Bay Lightning as they were applying tons of pressure and unloading a lot of shots. Nikita Kucherov would eventually tie the game up midway through the period with an amazing backhand shot.
#KLUTCHEROV 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OQC4O9Vwld
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 10, 2017
Overtime
The Capitals committed a "too many men on the ice" penalty in the overtime which pretty much sealed their fate. Brayden Point finished the Lightning's comeback with a powerplay goal to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 victory.