This season, the Washington Capitals lost for the first time in regulation, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.
Washington (5-1-3 13 points) drops to third place in the Metropolitan Division behind Carolina and the New York Rangers.
The Capitals took a 1-0 lead early in the first period when Brett Leason scored his first NHL goal on an unassisted shot.
“There’s a lot of youth that’s coming in the organization,” head coach Peter Laviolette said after the game. “You see them when we’re in trouble, and they’re contributing, so that’s a big help.”
The Lightning’s Alex Killorn tied the game at the 3:18 mark of the second period. Tampa scored the game-winner on a two-person advantage about five minutes later on a power-play goal from Anthony Cirelli. In the third period, Tampa would pad the lead to 3-1 when Braden Point took the puck from defenseman Justin Schultz.
Connor Sheary cut the lead to 3-2 on a power-play goal at the 11:38 mark of the third, but the Capitals could get no closer.
“Lots of looks, lots of chances, lots of quality chances,” Laviolette said. “We just couldn’t seem to get them to drop on their goalie,” he said.
Center Nic Dowd joined Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie on the injured list and was placed on injured reserved before the game. To replace him, Washington recalled Alexi Protas from Hershey. He saw limited action, skating just seven shifts and a total of 3:53 of ice time.
“I thought they both played pretty well tonight,” Connor Sheary said of both Protas and Leason. “Coming in your first game, especially against a team of this caliber, it’s tough to play in that environment, but they did a great job,” he said.
The Capitals are off Tuesday and Wednesday. The team travels to South Florida to play the Panthers on Thursday night.