March 20

On March 20, 1994, the Washington Capitals blanked the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-0 in an afternoon game in Florida.



Kelly Miller scored Washington's first goal of the game and his eighth of the season at 3:13 of the first period with help from Sylvain Cote and Steve Konowalchuk. The Capitals managed a dozen shots on Tampa Bay goaltender Daren Puppa in the first while the Bolts answered with seven against the Capitals' Don Beaupre.



Just 57 seconds into the second period, the Caps made it 2-0 on Keith Jones' power-play goal, his 13th goal of the season. Dale Hunter and Al Iafrate assisted on the Jones goal. As they did in the first period, the Capitals outshot Tampa Bay 12-7 in the second period.



Calle Johansson closed out the scoring with another power-play goal - his seventh tally of the campaign - at 4:57 of the third period. Kevin Hatcher and Michal Pivonka picked up the assists on the final Washington goal of the afternoon. The two teams combined for 138 minutes in penalties for the game. The Bolts edged the Caps in third period shots on goal, 9-8 but Washington led in that category on the afternoon, 32-23.



With a 23-save shutout, Beaupre was the game's first star. Miller's game-winning goal was enough to get him the second star and Tampa Bay defenseman Marc Bergevin was the game's third star.



One day later, the Caps and Bolts made a deal just prior to the NHL's trading deadline. Joe Reekie–an original member of the Lightning–was dealt to the Capitals in exchange for defenseman Enrico Ciccone and a third round draft pick. Reekie's last game as a member of the Lightning was against Washington.


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