Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots in his 600th career game, and the Tampa Bay Lightning won for the first time this season by topping the visiting Washington Capitals 3-1 on Saturday night.
Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Conor Geekie also found the net as Tampa Bay evened its record through two matches. Brandon Hagel had two assists.
Justin Sourdif scored for the Capitals, who lost the second part of their weekend back-to-back set.
Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 27 saves for Washington, and teammate Dylan Strome skated in his 600th game.
After losing 5-1 at the New York Rangers on Thursday in their season opener, the Lightning needed less than 2 1/2 minutes to strike for their initial home goal. D’Astous sent in a shot near the right circle that beat Lindgren for the defenseman’s first tally.
While Tampa Bay’s power play went 0-for-7 in the opening defeat, it clicked early on the match’s first man advantage when Sourdif went off for holding at 8:35. Though it did not find the net, the unit put plenty of pressure on Lindgren and had close chances.
As D’Astous did, Geekie ripped a shot that smoked Lindgren high on the left side to increase the lead to two goals at 16:30 as the club dominated by leading 14-5 in shots in the first period.
Following a 5-2 win at the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, the Capitals found their footing in the second, answered with a goal and matched Tampa Bay with seven shots.
Sourdif trimmed Washington’s deficit in half at 7:04 after a turnover in the neutral zone. He raced toward the net and chipped in Jakob Chychrun’s pass from the blue line for his first goal.
The teams skated 4-on-4 early in the third after Tom Wilson and Zemgus Girgensons roughed each other behind Vasilevskiy, but the Lightning had a crucial penalty kill in the middle portion to help preserve the lead.
With the net empty and just over two minutes remaining, Guentzel took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and iced the win.
–Field Level Media
