Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Lightning turn on power

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily look at the 2018 NHL postseason. The Tampa Bay Lightning climbed their way back into the Eastern Conference Final with a win in Game 3 on Tuesday.

About Last Night

Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Washington Capitals 2 — Victor Hedman had a goal and two assists, Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point each had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves for the Lightning, who are 4-1 on the road in the playoffs. Brett Connolly and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored, and Braden Holtby made 19 saves for the Capitals, who fell to 3-4 at home in the playoffs.

Tampa Bay scored two power-play goals and is 5-for-12 in the series. The Lightning also scored two 5-on-5 goals after scoring one in the first two games. They were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Washington leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is at Capital One Arena on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).

What we learned

Here are some takeaways from Day 35 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Lightning effective with lead

It was interesting to hear coach Jon Cooper stress how important it would be for the Lightning to get the lead and force the Capitals to chase the game. His point was that if Washington had to play from behind, it would soften its 1-1-3 setup in the neutral zone and push for chances, which could create opportunities for Tampa Bay. It worked. The Lightning got power-play goals from Stamkos at 13:53 of the first period and Kucherov at 1:50 of the second. The Capitals then got a little scattered and didn’t pick up Hedman as the trailer in the zone. Kucherov found him and he scored at 3:37 to make it 3-0. Checking and playing physical became much easier for Tampa Bay because it had the lead.

Video: TBL@WSH, Gm3: Stamkos blasts one-timer for PPG

Capitals struggling on penalty kill

For the second straight game, the Lightning scored on their first two power plays. Washington was able to overcome that to win Game 2, but couldn’t do it again Tuesday. The Capitals penalty kill has allowed Tampa Bay to score five goals on 12 power-play opportunities in the series and 10 goals in its past 24 times shorthanded dating back to Game 3 of the second round against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Vasilevskiy responds for Tampa Bay

Vasilevskiy, who allowed 10 goals through the first two games, needed a bounce-back performance and got it; he made 36 saves on 38 shots. His teammates helped by getting the lead and playing a tighter, smarter game, but Vasilevskiy came up big, especially early. His shoulder save on defenseman Dmitry Orlov‘s shot from the left circle at 2:17 of the first period and his glove save on center Evgeny Kuznetsov’s shot off the rush from the top of the left circle 1:37 later were signs he was on his game. He made 14 saves in the first period, giving the Lightning a chance to keep a 1-0 lead they built to 3-0 in the first 3:37 of the second. Vasilevskiy maintained the 3-1 lead with a key save on defenseman Christian Djoos off a 3-on-1 rush during a delayed penalty at 13:18 of the second, and made three saves on the ensuing penalty kill. He had to be terrific. He was.

Home isn’t better for Capitals

Home teams are 0-3 in this series. Those struggles are something new for Tampa Bay, which was 5-1 at Amalie Arena before Washington won the first two games there. But an inability to play with the same structure and win at home has been a continuing problem for the Capitals, 3-4 at Capital One Arena in these playoffs and 6-8 over the past two seasons. In contrast, they are 7-1 on the road in the playoffs this year and 11-3 over the past two seasons.

Video: Breaking down the Caps’ Game 3 loss against Tampa

Facts and figures

There have been seven sweeps in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the bracket format was introduced in 2014 (7 of 74 series; 9.5 percent), with none occurring beyond the second round. The previous five-year stretch saw 11 of 75 series end in sweeps (14.7 percent).

Kucherov improved his career playoff totals to 58 points (29 goals, 29 assists). He leads all players in postseason goals since making his NHL debut in 2013-14 and has the fourth-most playoff points over that span, trailing Penguins centers Sidney Crosby, who has 80 points (26 goals, 54 assists) and Evgeni Malkin, who had 68 (26 points, 42 goals) and Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf, who has 61 points (16 goals, 45 assists).