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Capitals Land 'Devastating' Blow To Bolts

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 17, 2008

TAMPA - With the Lightning bench hopping and the fans in the stands jumping, Tampa Bay's chest was sticking out like it was ready to deliver a knockout blow.

Instead, Alexander Semin delivered a steel-toed shot to the Lightning's gut that left Tampa Bay hunched over and gasping for air.

Semin scored the game-winning goal with three minutes remaining Saturday, 38 seconds after the Lightning scored the tying goal, to give Washington a 3-2 victory. The loss knocks Tampa Bay back to an eight-point deficit in the tightly compacted Southeast Division race and pushes the Lightning back into the cellar in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Toronto.

The Capitals improved to 22-15-5 since Coach Bruce Boudreau took over on November 22, and Washington has yet to lose consecutive games under its new coach as the Capitals remain two points out of the division lead.

"When Tampa Bay tied it up, to have the resolve to go down the other end and get the winning goal says a lot about our team," said Washington goaltender Olie Kolzig, who had 39 saves. "And we have not lost two in a row yet with Bruce as our coach, so that's still true."

As resilient a team as Tampa Bay has been in past seasons - even showing that comeback ability late Saturday as the Lightning scored twice in 33 seconds just after Washington made it 2-0 - it's hard not to view this latest setback as the final punch that will keep the Lightning out of the postseason for the first time since 2002.

"It's pretty devastating," defenseman Dan Boyle said. "We fought hard to get back and tie it up late. ... It's a pretty tough way to lose a game."

For the better part of the game, the Lightning played Tokyo to Olie Kolzig's Godzilla as the Washington netminder looked like he was going to stomp on Tampa Bay's parade, stopping the first 35 shots fired at him. The Lightning had a season-high 24 shots on goal in the second period, including seven on a late power play, only to be stoned by Kolzig, who got his 25th victory against Tampa Bay in 42 starts.

"He made a lot of big saves," center Vinny Lecavalier said of Kolzig. "On the power play he was just . . . there were some rebounds, we couldn't quite get there. I mean, all game, he made all the big saves."

After Washington took a two-goal lead on David Steckel's fourth goal this season against Tampa Bay - he has five all year - with 6:08 left to play, the Lightning regrouped and played like a team desperate to stay in the race.

Vinny Prospal whipped in a wrap-around shot at 15:49, then Jan Hlavac deflected a Filip Kuba shot 33 seconds later to send the building into a euphoric state.

The Capitals called a timeout to regroup, then went down and scored the winner as Semin poked in a loose puck that was sitting in the crease after Viktor Kozlov deflected a Mike Green point shot.

"Talk about a roller coaster there," right wing Marty St. Louis said. "That's a tough one."

But is it too tough? Is it such a devastating setback as to knock any thoughts of the playoffs out of their minds.

"These are the games you can't afford to lose down the stretch," Boyle said. "But we're going to fight until the end. Obviously this one hurts, no doubt about it. I mean, it definitely hurts but we're going to keep fighting."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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