Capitals Burned by Lightning

Zigmund Palffy and Todd Warriner both scored a goal and added an assist, but it was not enough as the Washington Capitals lost a tough 6-5 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Day 5. The setback moves Washington to 2-1-0 on the season.

The defending champions came out quickly in the first period, and Nylander made it 1-0 after just 2:02 when he scored from Varlamov and Pothier. The Capitals fought back to tie the game 7:15 later on Mikael Renberg's first goal of the season. Linemates Jonathan Cheechoo and Greg Watson assisted on the goal. Tampa continued to press, however, and Murphy gave the Lightning the lead again when he scored from Nylander and Demidov at 12:22.

After failing on an early power play in the second period, the Capitals successfully killed off a shorthanded situation. Washington then tied the game again through Todd Warriner from Palffy and Rob Blake at 7:13. Tampa Bay quickly regained the lead when Hejduk tallied from Svehla and McLaren just 58 seconds later. Another failed power play for the Capitals gave the Lightning added momentum, and Svehla made it 4-2 from Cleary and Savard at 13:12.

Tampa continued to hammer the Washington net, and Lemieux gave them a three-goal lead from Hejduk and Kubina at 9:05. A penalty less than a minute later to Cory Sarich seemed to spell the end of any Washington comeback, but Bubba Berenzweig scored an unlikely goal from Frantisek Lukes and Blake just 1:48 later to make it 5-3. Unfortunately the Lightning got the lead back to three just 18 seconds later on Varlamov's goal from Kubina and Lemieux. The Capitals finally fought back with goals from Palffy at 16:18 and Artem Chubarov at 17:03, but it wasn't enough in the end. Patrick Marleau and Warriner assisted on Palffy's goal, while Anson Carter and Andrew Ference got the helper's on Chubarov's tally.

Manny Legace struggled in net for Washington, stopping just 16 saves in the loss. Tommy Salo had nine saves in relief. Jocelyn Thibault picked up his first win of the season for Tampa Bay and stopped 22 shots in the effort.

Washington is off on Day 6 before hosting the Los Angeles Kings on Day 7.