Capitals beat the Lightning 4-2 to keep their playoff hopes alive

WASHINGTON — John Carlson scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 11:31 left, Charlie Lindgren made 32 saves in another strong performance when his team needed him and the Washington Capitals kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Saturday.

Sonny Milano scored twice and Nic Dowd provided an insurance goal with 3:14 remaining as the Capitals won for just the second time in nine games to at least temporarily move into the Eastern Conference's second and final wild-card spot. They may need to win their final two games of the season to return to the postseason after missing last year.

Beating Tampa Bay was essential to just make that possible. A 5-on-3 power play in the third period gave Washington its best chance to crack 2019 Vezina Trophy-winning and 2021 playoff MVP Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Carlson did just that with a blast from the point after the first Lightning penalty had expired.

Milano's goals helped the Caps keep pace earlier, while Anthony Duclair scored on a double deflection and Brandon Hagel got his 25th of the season for Tampa Bay. Lindgren did the rest, robbing Steven Stamkos of his 40th among a handful of quality saves throughout.

Vasilevskiy at the other end was on his game as well, looking unbeatable for long stretches of the game and finishing with 31 saves. The Lightning are locked into the East's first wild-card spot and have only individual achievements like Nikita Kucherov reaching 100 assists this season or him winning the NHL scoring race.

The scariest moment of the game came late in the first period, when Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen's head hit the boards after a shove from Tampa Bay's Michael Eyssimont. Jensen lay motionless on the ice for several minutes while being attended to by medical personnel and was stretchered off the ice.

Jensen was alert, conscious and using his extremities, the team said not long after. Dowd, a college teammate and longtime friend of Jensen's, dropped the gloves in the second to fight Eyssmiont, who was not penalized for the collision and booed by the crowd each time he touched the puck afterward.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.

Capitals: Host the Boston Bruins on Monday night.

NHL: /hub/nhl

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