RECAP: Tampa Bay Lightning Defeat Washington Capitals In Shootout

Lightning win third straight ahead of holiday break.

The Lightning did what they needed to do on the road. Heading into last night’s game, they were 16-35-7 in 58 games at Capital One Arena. 

The Bolts have been building confidence and simplifying their game, so far it seems to be working. They came out strong with a solid first period, focusing on the forecheck and breaking the puck out cleanly. After missing morning skate yesterday with a noticeable limp, Luke Glendening scored to put the Lightning on the board in the first period. They're 12-4-0 when scoring the game-opening goal. 

From there, both teams played pretty solid defense and didn’t allow much sustained offense for most of the night. The score remained 1-1 for the entirety of the game.

Brayden Point and Victor Hedman each scored in the shootout to give their team a 2-1 win. The Lightning only put 9 of their 37 shot attempts over the second and third period and overtime on net.

“The last three games I think we've been able to turn it on and focus more on simplifying the game and not making it hard on ourselves,” Hedman said after the game. “And when we do that we're a good team.”

Tampa Bay improved to 4-3-0 against Metropolitan Division opponents and 7-5-3 against Eastern Conference opponents. They head into the break on a three-game win streak. December is a pivotal month in grabbing some of the points they missed out on at the beginning of the season. The Bolts will face the Florida Panthers at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.