Caps Look To Take Back The Southeast Division

Fresh off their Winter Classic win against Pittsburgh, the Capitals dropped the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning in what was perhaps an even more important game. The Lightning seemed anxious to display their new, old goalie. Dwyane Roloson was acquired from the New York Islanders last Saturday. The 41-year-old goaltender, whose win/loss records could really use some work, was the unofficial starter. Rick DiPietro (the Islanders starter on paper only) is one of those players who makes the news for actually being healthy.

The division rivals entered the game both tied for first in the Southeast Division with 51 points, Tampa with a game in hand. Despite the importance of the game, the Capitals were slow to get it started. Even Varlamov's three sprawling saves were less than fabulous. With just 5 shots in the first, Washington both burned a late power play and killed one off. The penalty kill was the highlight of the period as they shut down the Lightning's top two scorers Steven Stamkos and Vincent Lecavlier, and their top play maker Martin St. Louis.

The Capitals had more energy coming out of the first period intermission, however, instead of playing like themselves, it was a rather conservative period. Two minutes in, Alex Ovechkin sped down the ice using the defenseman as a shield, forcing Roloson to go post-to-post. A hooking call on Matthieu Perreault as he went hard to the net resulted in the Caps second power play of the night. The power play, which has been the Capitals Achilles tendon this season, managed to produce a few quality shots before St. Louis and Ryan Malone made a short handed rush down the ice and crashed into the waiting Varlamov. Matt Hendricks and Steve Downie dropped the gloves and exchanged a few choice words, yelling to one another through the penalty box glass. Backstrom created the best chance of the period, wrapping the puck around the net, but Roloson came up with his fifth big save of the game, which is undoubtedly why Tampa traded for the 41-year-old. He made Tampa's GM, Steve Yzerman, look like a genius. With 2:28 left in the second period, the Lightning announced that they signed Boston's Marc-Andre Bergeron.

Tampa came out ready in the third, piling shots on goal in the first three minutes. The score, however, remained 0-0. The third period was the best for both teams, as though it took them both 40 minutes to realize that the winner of this game would take back control of the Southeast division. Eventually the teams took it to overtime, whihc was much quicker paced than the entire game. With 2:43 off the clock, Martin St. Louis put it past Varlamov, putting the Caps two points behind the Lightning, #2 in the Southeast Division. Washington is going to have to play much better if they expect to win their division again. This was an over all underwhelming game.