Alexander Ovechkin didn’t take long in getting back to form after the first suspension of his young career. The Russian superstar netted two goals in his first game back for the Capitals, helping Washington shutout Tampa Bay, 3-0.
After a scoreless first, Ovie took a feed from Alexander Semin and ripped it past Mike Smith to give the Caps a 1-0 lead. He scored his second goal with 25 ticks left in the second, crashing the net on a Caps powerplay and banking a loose puck in off Smith’s pad.
Also scoring for the Caps was Eric Fehr, who now has 5 goals in his last 6 games. After a diving play by John Erskine to stop a breakaway chance from Vinny Lecavalier, Tomas Fleischmann flipped a puck towards the net from just inside the Tampa Bay blueline, where Fehr was waiting in the slot and banged it home.
The Lightning had a couple good chances to score, but Simeon Varlamov was stellar in net for the Caps, stopping all 26 shots he faced. Varlamov recorded his 2nd career shutout, having gotten his first one two weeks ago against Buffalo. The young netminder now has a 12-1-2 record on the season.
The Capitals, who now hold the best record in the league at 19-5-6, currently lead the league in total offense, having scored 111 goals. Washington travels to Buffalo on Wednesday to face the Sabres, while Tampa Bay will host Edmonton.