TORONTO _ The Lightning and Capitals are no strangers to overtime or shootouts, but Monday's was a new one. Tampa Bay beat Washington 3-2 in the first-ever shootout of the NHL playoffs.
Faced with a round of games that come after the regular season was declared finished and before the start of the first round, the NHL decided stats from the round robin and Stanley Cup qualifiers will count as the postseason. The round robin, however, follows regular-season overtime rules.
Thus, the first ever "playoff" shootout.
Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov scored in the shootout, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stood up in goal to give the Lightning their first win of the round robin.
The Lightning took a 2-0 lead in the first half of the game, but the Capitals shifted momentum through the latter half to tie it up. Kucherov and Point got things started in the first period. Point created a turnover at center ice and then danced through a couple of Capitals.
He fed the puck to Kucherov, who took a couple of one-legged strides toward the net. Kucherov still faced up the ice when he pulled the shot across his body at a tight angle to land top shelf behind goalie Braden Holtby.
Mitchell Stephens added to the Lightning's lead in the second period with what is officially his first career playoff goal, even though this is a non-elimination round robin.
The momentum started shifting a few minutes later as the Capitals responded to the two-goal deficit.
Winger Richard Panik got the Capitals on the board with 2:36 left in the second period. Radko Gudas' shot from the point bounced off defenseman Zach Bogosian, and the puck bounced between Vasilevskiy's legs. Vasilevskiy reached behind him, but Panik got to the puck first.
Just 2:08 later, Evgeni Kuznetsov scored a power-play goal to tie the game up. Dmitry Orlov sent a wrist shot from the center point and Vasilevskiy got part but not all of it and couldn't find the rebound. Kuznetsov jammed the puck in at the post.
