Braden Holtby did not have a good night.
Facing only 12 shots in the game through 28 minutes of play, Holtby was pulled, allowing 3 goals to squeak by him and giving the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-1 lead heading into the third period of Friday nights contest at Verizon.
Philipp Grubauer stepped in and stopped all 7 shots he faced, but that wasn't the big story of the night.
The Washington Capitals, led by T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, staged a remarkable comeback.
Down 3-0 in the second, Ovechkin received an incredible pass from Oshie to bucket an easy empty net goal to give the Caps their first marker.
In the third, the Lightning looked to have a good advantage until Grubauer made a spectacular save that lead to Oshie's first goal of the night, a snipe on the rush that beat Ben Bishop short side.
"That was the turning point," Trotz said. "They had us in our end, had a couple good looks, he made a great save, we come back and score; momentum, all us. Once we scored that goal, I knew we were going to get it tied up. I had a pretty good feeling we were going to win it in regulation too. You could tell the bench got really excited." (NHL.com)
The third period was a completely different atmosphere than earlier in the game as the Caps scored 5 unanswered goals to complete the comeback and return the favor to Holtby who has a penchant for bailing out his teammates this season.
Alex Ovechkin scored two goals and added two assists. His second goal was a highlite reel, jock-removal of Anton Stahlman that tied the game at 3. He had two power play goals.
Marcus Johansson scored the game winner off a wonderful passing play from Backstrom, Oshie and Ovechkin.
T.J Oshie also had 4 points, scoring his second goal into the empty net with around 25 seconds remaining.
Nicklas Backstrom, who picked up the assist on Oshie's tally, recorded his 600th NHL point (155g, 445a). Backstrom has always been one of the most underrated and quietly brilliant players in the league. He scored just one point in the game, but his play helped fuel the Caps' comeback.
Braden Holtby's record remains intact at 20-4-0-1 thanks to his teammates.
More to come...