Lightning get badly-needed win at Washington

WASHINGTON - Tampa Bay played the near model game Friday, should a run to the postseason be in the works.

The Lightning knocked off NHL-leading Washington 3-2 to move into ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings, four points behind eighth-place Boston and six points behind Montreal.

Antero Niittymaki stopped 28 shots, defenseman Matt Walker had a goal and an assist, and the Lightning blocked 20 shots and dished out 30 hits in handing the Capitals their first regulation loss at home since Dec. 28. It was just Washington's third regulation loss since Jan. 5, with two of them coming at the hands of the Lightning.
It was Tampa Bay's second win in the past nine games, and snapped a seven-game losing streak at Verizon Center that dated to November 2007.

"I thought the guys played really hard tonight, they deserved to win," Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said. "It's a lesson that we have to play with passion, and I think almost everybody played with passion, and we need that. The bench was alive. It was a balanced effort."

After the teams traded goals in the first period, with Brandon Bochenski getting a key goal with 49 seconds left, the game was essentially decided in the middle frame. And in two different halves of the second period, the Lightning managed to build a two-goal lead.

Washington came out flying, in part due to a pair of power-play opportunities in the first six minutes, by firing the first 13 shots on goal of what was a 1-1 game after the first period. But Niittymaki kept the highest-scoring team in the league at bay, including a beauty of a glove save 50 seconds into the period on Brendan Morrison.

"I thought this might have been the best game we played all year, and not just because we beat Washington," Niittymaki said. "They came pretty hard the beginning of the second, the first 10 minutes, but other than that I think we were in total control. Guys battled hard and they got two nice goals, and with all those guys out there that's going to happen, but we kept going and played a really good game."

The Lightning didn't show any offensive threat until a Steven Stamkos shot attempt at 9:29. And it wasn't until an unlikely culprit in Walker scored for the second time in three games that Tampa Bay grabbed the lead. After Nate Thompson won a faceoff, Stephane Veilleux slipped the puck back to Walker, who fired a laser shot to the top of the far corner at 11:30.

Walker factored into the next goal when he fired a shot that forced Vinny Lecavalier to turn away to protect himself, but the puck hit his glove and redirected into the net at 15:12. The goal was waved off for a high stick, but it was overturned after a review.

"It hit me right in the arm, got a little lucky. It was just one of those goals," Lecavalier said.

Tampa Bay finished the period outshooting the Capitals 10-1 in the final 10:31. Though Washington picked up a second power-play goal late in the third, the Lightning kept up the pace to close the game in a fashion that's going to have to continue in the final 15 games.

"You know you have to do everything against this team, because they don't stop, they keep coming," Walker said. "We knew we were going to be in our end and spend some time down there, but we took care of the house, knocked away rebounds and waited for our chance."