Washington and Tampa Bay face off for a Stanley Cup Final berth. Follow along here throughout.

The Capitals and Lightning are underway in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final in Tampa. You can watch on NBC Sports or stream it here.

Throughout the game, we’ll add to this post with updates on the action.

First period

13:13: WAS 1, TBL 0

The Capitals’ Devante Smith-Pelly just took a shot to the back of the neck or head while diving to block a slap shot. A medical staffer quickly ushered him to the locker room after a play that looked really ugly. We’ve reached the first television timeout of the night.

Here’s the game-opening goal Alex Ovechkin scored a few minutes ago, a beautiful one-timer off a nice feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov. The other member of Washington’s top line is Tom Wilson, who created the whole sequence by forcing a turnover:

14:25: WAS 1, TBL 0

The Lightning killed off a penalty when they really needed to, though the Capitals got a shot off the post during their man advantage. The Lightning don’t have a shot on goal yet.

18:58: WAS 1, TBL 0

Goal, Capitals, a minute and two seconds into the game. It’s their captain. Alex Ovechkin just ripped a vicious one-timer passed Andrei Vasilevskiy, setting up above the left faceoff circle and firing it past Vasilevskiy on the short side. This is the biggest game of Ovechkin’s career, and he’s already made a critical mark on it.

20:00: WAS 0, TBL 0

Here we go. Hockey’s being played at Amalie Arena.

Pregame

The Capitals’ lines:

And the Lightning’s:

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Earlier

The Tampa Bay Lightning host the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the NHL playoffs’ Eastern Conference Final on Wednesday. Whoever wins advances to face the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, starting on Monday.

Time, TV schedule, and streaming for Game 7

The puck drops at Tampa’s Amalie Arena shortly after 8 p.m. ET.

You can watch or stream the game via the NBC Sports Network in the United States. In Canada, the CBC and SN1 will carry broadcasts of the action.

Game 7 preview: Can the Capitals break through?

Until this spring, the Capitals hadn’t played in a conference final since 1998. That year also marks the lone Cup Final appearance in franchise history, and it ended in a four-game sweep at the hands of the powerful Red Wings. The Lightning are more familiar with this stage. They’re playing their third Eastern Conference Final Game 7 in four years.

This series has made the weird the ordinary. The Capitals won the first two games in Tampa, then lost two in a row in Washington and Game 5 back in Tampa. They responded by playing a tremendous Game 6 in D.C., winning, 3-0, to force this to-the-victors-go-the-spols moment. A solid case could be made that Wednesday’s game is the biggest in Capitals’ history.

There’s reason for the Capitals to feel good. Goaltender Braden Holtby has run hot and cold in this series (and all year), but he’s coming off his first shutout of the season — playoffs or regular season. The Caps have controlled about 55 percent of the five-on-five shot attempts and scoring chances through six games. They were often burned on the power play in Games 3 and 4, but the Lightning have gone 0-for-3 there in the last two games.

The Lightning have their own reasons for comfort. The simplest is they’re playing at home, and even if that’s meant little in this series, it’s meant a lot all year. The Lightning were 29-12 at home in the regular season, and the Capitals were 21-20 on the road. Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is a Vezina Trophy nominee for a reason. And you can look at Washington’s small sample of penalty-killing success recently as either a great sign for the Caps or completely unsustainable against Tampa’s star-studded power-play unit.

Capitals vs. Lightning Game 7 odds

Tampa Bay is a solid favorite, according to oddsmakers. The Lightning are around -145 on the moneyline, meaning you’d have to risk $145 to win $100 betting on them. They’re favored by 1.5 goals in most spread betting situations, as they’re playing at home.

Game 7 pick: Washington wins on the road

Why? No reason in particular. Both teams have good players, and they should play a close game. If one non-goalie is likeliest to be the game-breaker, though, it’s Alex Ovechkin.