Game 74: 93-43-23-7 (PTS-W-L-OT) Streak - W1
Wed Mar 20, 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning @ Washington Capitals
Place: Capital One Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
NHL.COM for Live Box Score
Last Game: Tue March 19 Capitals Won 4-1 against Devils
Next Game: Fri Mar 22, 7:00 pm ET Wild @ Capitals
 8-Ovechkin | 92-Kuznetsov | 43-Wilson |
| 13-Vrana | 19-Bäckström | 77-Oshie |
| 62-Hagelin | 20-Eller | 10-Connolly |
| 65-Burakovsky | 26-Dowd | 18-Stephenson |
| 6-Kempny | 74-Carlson |
| 9-Orlov | 2-Niskanen |
| 44-Orpik | 3-Jensen |
|
| 70-Holtby (starter) |
| 1-Copley |
-- SCRATCH -- | 23-Jaskin |
| 72-Boyd |
| 29-Djoos |
-- INJURED RESERVE -- -- 1st Powerplay Unit -- | 92-Kuznetsov | 19-Bäckström | 77-Oshie |
-- 2nd Powerplay Unit -- | 13-Vrana | 20-Eller | 43-Wilson |
Referees: Chris Rooney (#5), Brad Watson (#23)
Linesmen: Scott Cherrey (#50), Brian Murphy (#93)
LIGHTNING LINEUP Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- J.T. Miller
Tyler Johnson -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne -- Cedric Paquette -- Yanni Gourde
Victor Hedman -- Mikhail Sergachev
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn -- Jan Rutta
Andrei Vasilevskiy (starter)
Louis Domingue
Scratched: Ryan Callahan, Danick Martel, Cameron Gaunce
Injured: Dan Girardi (lower body), Anton Stralman (lower body)
1st Period07:32 GOAL 20-Eller, assist 62-Hagelin 1-0 WSH
2nd Period01:19 Lightning PP GOAL Kucherov, assists Stamkos & Hedman 1-1 TIE
02:12 Lightning PP GOAL Stamkos, assist miller 2-1 TBL
06:45 Lightning GOAL Cirelli, assist Joseph 3-1 TBL
10:30 GOAL 62-Hagelin, assist 20-Eller 3-2 TBL
13:40 GOAL PP GOAL 77-Oshie, assists 8-Ovechkin & 74-Carlson 3-3 TIE
15:01 Lightning PP GOAL Kucherov, assists Stamkos & Palat 4-3 TBL
3rd Period19:07 GOAL 92-Kuznetsov, assists 19-Bäckström & 77-Oshie 4-4 TIE
OT03:01 GOAL Hedman, assist Gourde 5-4 TBL
FINAL: 5-4 TBL
By Julia Karron March 20, 2019 11:38 am
Alex Ovechkin’s shot voted the best by his peers in NHLPA Player Poll
Headline photo: @NHLPA
Wednesday morning, the NHLPA released the results from their annual Player Poll, which surveys roughly 500 NHL players on everything from how good other players are, to skills, and arenas and fans.
This season, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin received the most love as the player with the best shot at a whopping 50.2 percent of the vote.
Others receiving votes in the category were Shea Weber, Patrik Laine, Auston Matthews, and Steven Stamkos.
Ovechkin’s heavy one-timer may be the reason why he is the only player in the NHL currently on target to reach 50 goals this season.
Ovi’s Caps teammates received admiration from the NHLPA too. Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov were voted as the second and fourth most underrated players with 11.4 percent and 4.4 percent of the vote, respectively. Last season, Backstrom was voted the league’s most underrated player.
Brooks Orpik received a nod as the third best general manager candidate after retirement at 4.5 percent behind Sidney Crosby (5.5 percent), and Jason Spezza (4.8 percent).
Other interesting poll results include:
Brad Marchand received the most votes as the best trash talker AND the worst trash-talker in the league. I’d be interested to know what quantifies “best” and “worst,” like variety of material, amount of cursing, things like that.
Feeling so honored right now all those years of hard work has paid off!! Want to thank everyone who has supported me in this journey to best and worst trash talker and all my work colleagues around the NHL couldnt have done it without you! - For the first time in the poll, players voted on best female player. US Women’s National Team member and Les Canadiennes forward Hilary Knight beat out her Montreal teammate Marie Philip-Poulin. Both will play in the Clarkson Cup Sunday. Poulin was the only Canadian National Team member to get votes in the top five, although props to the NHLPA for listing the primary teams as their CWHL and NWHL affiliates, which they’ve previously been hesitant to do given the one league talks.
- 66 percent of players would want jerseys that feature nicknames for a game, similar to what the MLB does. How many are just players’ last names with an added “y” or “s” or “er” at the end?
- Connor McDavid has displaced Sidney Crosby as the most difficult player to play against, the best forward, and the player people want to start a franchise with. This feels like a changing of the guard to the next generation of superstars.
- P.K. Subban was voted as the player who’d be the best TV analyst once they retire. Fam, P.K. is already killing the TV game. He’s done analysis for NBC Sports during their telecasts once the Preds were eliminated from the playoffs, and already hosts his own show called The P.K. Project which is available on NBC Sports and YouTube.
- Vegas has the best fan atmosphere after only being around for one year, beating out Montreal’s Bell Centre which won last season. That is mind boggling, and if Seattle is looking for a franchise to emulate when they come into the league, they should take notes from the Golden Knights.
