This Date in Caps History - February 14

On February 14, 1997 the Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 in overtime before a sellout crowd of 18,130 at USAir Arena.

Mike Eagles' first goal of the season got the Caps started at 1:59 of the first period. Steve Konowalchuk's 11th goal of the season gave the Caps a 2-0 lead at 17:05. Lee than a minute later, former Cap Dino Ciccarelli halved the Washington lead with his 21st goal of the season. Each team had 10 shots on goal in the first period.

The Capitals struck for a pair of power play goals in the second period. Peter Bondra scored his 35th of the season at 5:56 and Andrew Brunette netted his third at 12:29. The Caps outshot Tampa Bay 8-4 in the middle period.

The Lightning came out hard in the third and got on the board quickly on John Cullen's 14th goal at the 39-second mark. Former Cap Bill Houlder scored at 13:36 to pull the Bolts to within one and Paul Ysebaert's power play goal at 14:59 knotted the score and sent the game to overtime. The Lightning outshot Washington by an 11-4 margin in the third period.

The Capitals got the only two shots on goal of the overtime period and made good on the second one when Konowalchuk pumped his second goal of the game past Bolts netminder Rick Tabaracci, who had come on in relief of starter Daren Puppa midway through the second stanza. Despite giving up the three third-period goals, Jim Carey was credited with the win for Washington.