Sean Bergenheim scored two goals and Dwayne Roloson stopped 33 shots, helping the streaking Lightning complete a series sweep of the top-seeded Capitals with a 5-3 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
Playing on consecutive nights for the first time this post-season, the fifth-seeded Lightning extended their winning streak to seven games and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since their 2004 Stanley Cup championship season.
"We're definitely happy, but we're not popping champagne or anything," Lightning forward Ryan Malone said. "We know what our goal is and we have to keep going and stay even keel. We haven't done anything yet."
For Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals it was yet another bitter post-season disappointment.
Rookie Michal Neuvirth stopped 32 shots for Washington, but Bergenheim scored twice in eight minutes during the second period to build a 3-1 lead that sent the sellout crowd of 20,835 into celebratory mode long before it was over.
"It just seemed like they had an answer for everything that we threw at them," Capitals defenceman Karl Alzner said. "That's kind of the tough part. We didn't get rewarded for everything that we threw at them."
The Lightning's big three of Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos have elevated their games, but so has Bergenheim, who has a team-leading seven goals through two rounds. St. Louis' sixth goal of the playoffs, with 3:08 remaining, finished Tampa Bay's scoring.
Malone and Marc-Andre Bergeron added goals for the Lightning, who have not lost since dropping into a 3-1 hole against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round.
Bergenheim was eighth on the Lightning with 14 regular-season goals, however he's been much more of an offensive force in ousting the Penguins and Lightning.
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