TAMPA, Fla. — Brian Boyle picked the perfect time for his first career shootout goal.
Boyle scored in the fourth round of the shootout and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 2-1 Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
“Simple game … he just goes down there and shoots at the net,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
Tampa Bay won the shootout 2-1 when Boyle put a shot between Braden Holtby’s pads. The Lightning forward was 0 for 4 in his previous shootout attempts.
“Come down with some speed, and try and use my reach.” the 6-foot-6 Boyle said. “Open up a hole.”
Brayden Point also scored in the tiebreaker for the Lightning and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for the Capitals.
Tampa Bay got a regulation goal from Nikita Kucherov. Ben Bishop stopped 34 shots.
Nicklas Backstrom scored for the Captials, who have lost three in a row (0-2-1). Holtby made 32 saves.
“They’re in the same situation as us,” Holtby said. “A game like that can go either way, really.”
Kucherov opened the scoring with 7:22 left in the second for his 13th goal, coming from the top of the right circle during a power play that came about due to Alex Ovechkin’s second penalty in the game.
Tampa Bay, which entered with the NHL’s second-best power-play, went 1 for 3.
It was just the sixth time this season that Washington allowed the first goal of a game.
Ovechkin had four shots but saw his goal-scoring drought reach four straight games.
Backstrom tied it at 1 on the power play at 6:24 of the third. Washington has three man-advantage goal on the road this season in 28 chances, including a 1-for-6 effort against the Lightning.
“It’s better than nothing,” Backstrom said about the Capitals getting a point. “We had the opportunity (to win) but didn’t do it.”
The Capitals got two shots but failed to score during a power play over the final 33.5 seconds of overtime.
A little bit of a bend but no break,” Bishop said. “Obviously they had a little momentum but the penalty kill came up big.”
Bishop had a nifty save on an in-close chance by Kuznetsov during the first of two unsuccessful Washington power plays late in the second.
Holtby made a glove save on Joel Vermin during a 2-on-1 and turned aside Kucherov’s breakaway shot over a minute span early in the second.
NOTES: Bishop is 2-6-1 in 10 games against Washington. … Holtby is 7-2-2 in 13 games against the Lightning. … Tampa Bay D Jason Garrison, who took a shot off the knee in Thursday’s game at St. Louis, didn’t play. … Washington swept the three-game series last season, outscoring the Lightning 11-6. The Capitals were 10-1-1 in their 12 games against Tampa Bay.
UP NEXT:
Capitals: Host Buffalo on Monday night.
Lightning: At Carolina on Sunday night.
