Lightning 5 - 6 Capitals
Final - 2OT
  for this game

Caps host Lightning in rematch of East semis

Oct 10, 2011 - 3:06 PM (Sports Network) - Regular season success against the Washington Capitals has been hard to come by for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

They hope their domination of the reigning Southeast Division champions in last year's postseason can reverse that trend.

The Lightning look to beat the Capitals tonight for just the fourth time in their last 15 regular season trips to the Verizon Center in a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Capitals own an 11-2-1 mark over the Lightning in the past 14 home games in this series and 20 of the last 26 meetings overall, but that does not include last season's sweep by the Lightning in the playoffs' second round.

Another postseason rematch did not go Tampa Bay's way on Saturday, however, as the Lightning dropped a 4-1 test in Boston in a rematch of last year's conference finals. Martin St. Louis scored for the second time in as many games, but the Bruins' Tim Thomas made 25 saves.

"He made key saves at the right times and those were the moments where we could have kept it tight," Lightning head coach Guy Boucher said about Thomas.

Mathieu Garon was not as successful, allowing four goals on 42 shots. Boucher is likely to go back to Dwayne Roloson in net tonight after he helped backstop Tampa to a 5-1 win over the Hurricanes on Friday at the start of this season- opening five-game road trip.

Washington is coming off a victory of its own over Carolina, a 4-3 overtime triumph on Saturday night. Defenseman Mike Green netted the game-winner on the power play, while Alexander Semin, Jason Chimera and Brooks Laich also found the back of the net.

"I think we started a little bit slow," said Green. "It seemed like we were a little bit nervous, I think it was because we were in our building. Once we settled down and started finishing out checks and getting on the forecheck, we tired them out and I felt that paid off in overtime."

Michal Neuvirth posted 28 saves to claim the victory in Washington's season opener, but Tomas Vokoun is expected to make his Caps debut tonight. The free agent signing is 4-0-1 with a 1.55 goals-against average in his last five versus the Lightning.

Vokoun could have an easy time of things tonight if Semin continues his scoring pace over the Lightning. The winger had seven goals and nine points in last year's season series.

Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos and Alex Ovechkin of Washington are both looking for their first goals of the season. Stamkos' 96 goals since the start of the 2009-10 season are the most in the league over that time, while Ovechkin's 82 are third.






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