The Washington Capitals and the Tampa-Bay Lightning faced off for two high-tension games this weekend.

The Washington Capitals and the Tampa-Bay Lightning faced off twice this weekend, and both games had dramatically different results. Washington started the weekend off on a high after beating Tampa-Bay 5-1. However, their weekend ended in a horrible defeat of 3-6. 

Let’s take a closer look at what went down on Friday night. 

At the 10:32 mark in the first period, Anthony Mantha put the Capitals on the board for a 1-0 lead. Early in the second period, Nicolas Aube-Kubel was ejected for an illegal check to the head on Cal Foote. The nasty hit certainly heightened tensions between the two teams and led to multiple brawls throughout the night. 

The Capitals managed to kill a five minute penalty during the second period. Moments later, new addition Sonny Milano bolted out of the penalty box and charged the net. Milano scored, giving the Capitals a 2-0 lead. With 5:38 left in the second, Alexei Protas furthered the Washington lead on Tampa-Bay making it 3-0. However, the Capitals did not stop there. Early into the third period, Connor Sheary netted yet another one for Washington.

At 12:07 in the third, Nick Perbix put Tampa Bay on the board, making it 4-1, and effectively eliminating Darcy Keumper’s chance at a shutout win. With 2:15 left in the game Sonny Milano netted another goal, his second of the night, to finish off the game at 5-1. Friday night was an incredibly high tension game and could not have gone better for Washington. 

However, Sunday night's rematch was quite the different story. 

Washington came into the game confident, but Tampa-Bay came into the game ready and determined. At 1:23 into the first period Mikhail Sergachev put the Lighting on the board. A couple minutes later at 8:17 in the first, Nikita Kucherov netted one during a power play. At 11:12 in the first Nick Perbrix joined the action with a lucky shot that bounced off of John Carlsson’s stick and Eric Gustaffson’s skate. Not even halfway through the first period, Tampa-Bay was up 3-0 while Washington had yet to get a single shot on goal. Sergachev got his second goal of the night making it 4-0 Capitals. At this point, stand-in head coach Kevin McCarthy makes the decision to pull Keumper from goal and put in Charles Lindgren. With 2:50 left in the first period, the Capitals finally managed to get a shot on goal thanks to Alex Ovechkin. 

Coming into the second period Washington appeared to regain their footing a bit. They began to place a greater focus on defending their zone, trying to keep the Lighting at four goals. Late into the second period, Connor Sheary put Washington on the board making it 4-1. 

The Capitals had a lot more momentum in the third period, but alas it was not enough to best the Lightning. Cole Koepke scored his first NHL goal making it 5-1. Lars Eller manages to snake one in for Washington making it 5-2. Towards the end of the third period, McCarthy makes an interesting choice and pulls Lindgren from goal. Nick Paul responds with an empty netter. Garnet Hathaway finishes off the game with a takeaway and a goal making the final score 6-3. Washington put up a good fight in the end, but unfortunately were simply unable to recover from the first period’s mishaps. 

The Capitals will not face off the Lightning again until March 30th, 2023. However, I would be surprised if some of the tension from this past weekend did not carry over to their game in the spring.