The Lightning needed a reset, and they got one in front of a roaring home crowd Saturday night.
After opening the season with a 5-1 loss to the Rangers, Tampa Bay answered with a 3-1 win over the Capitals in its home opener, a night that felt bigger than the scoreboard from the moment fans started filling Thunder Alley hours before puck drop. The blue carpet arrival scene had the building buzzing well before warmups, and the Lightning fed off that energy once the game got going.
Brandon Hagel said the atmosphere meant plenty to the group.
“It was massive. I think these fans have shown up every single year since I've been here,” said Hagel.
“Obviously, being traded to Florida, I didn't know what the hockey scene was going to be like being from Canada. But I came in here, and since the day I got here, it's honestly been incredible.”
“They continue to show up every night,” Hagel added. “They continue to sell out this building every single night.
And as a hockey player and living your dream, I think that's all you can ask for and I'm just grateful to play here. I continue to say it, it's one of the best fanbases in the league."
Tampa Bay was also dealing with a Capitals team that was playing the back half of a back-to-back after opening the season Friday night in Raleigh. Jon Cooper went with an 11-forward, seven-defenseman setup, and it gave him the chance to spread the workload around.
That didn’t stop the Lightning from coming out fast. Defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous scored 2:26 into the game for Tampa Bay’s first lead of the season, then Hagel set up Conor Geekie at the right circle on the rush to make it 2-0.
Geekie said the play brought back a memory from two years ago.
"I told him in the intermission, I said you gave me one two years ago and I missed,” said Geekie. “He kind of faked me out a little bit too, but again, I was just ready and made sure I put it home."
The second period brought the kind of edge that can wake up a building. Emil Lilleberg, back in the lineup as the seventh defenseman after sitting out Thursday’s opener, dropped the gloves with the 6-foot-7 Vincent Desharnais with 5:04 left in the period. The crowd erupted, and the game suddenly had a much different feel.
That wasn’t the only scrap in the mix. Pontus Holmberg and Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun started shoving away from the puck, and Tom Wilson challenged Jeff Viel on the Lightning bench. No fight came from that sequence, but Wilson later received a 10-minute misconduct.
The Lightning also cleaned up one of the biggest problems from Thursday. After winning only 39% of the faceoffs in the opener, Tampa Bay took 63% of the draws Saturday night. The power play didn’t cash in, going 0-for-3, but the Lightning looked sharper and created more chances than they had against New York.
Jake Guentzel finished it off with an empty-net goal with 2:05 left.
“The boys got pride in there,” Cooper said after the game. “Our job is to kind of put your thumb on them a little bit, and they responded. And never sitting here saying that two games is adversity, but you learn a little bit about your team, and we learned something (Saturday).”
Tampa Bay will practice Sunday before hosting the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.
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Lightning Got The Response Fans Needed In Their Home Opener
The home opener gave Tampa Bay exactly the kind of reset it needed, with a 3-1 win over the Capitals in front of its own crowd. Brandon Hagel set the tone early by helping on the first two goals, while Charle-Edouard DAstous added a timely finish and Andrei Vasilevskiy settled things down with 19 saves for his first win of the season.
For a team looking to answer an uneven start, the performance checked a lot of early-season boxes. The Lightning skated with more purpose, got production from the top of the lineup and leaned on Vasilevskiy when Washington tried to push back, leaving plenty of reason to believe the opener can be more than just a one-night response. [Read more 🡒]
Vasilevskiy Added Another Reminder Of His All Time Lightning Legacy
Andrei Vasilevskiy keeps adding layers to a Lightning legacy that already looks like one of the defining goaltending runs of the era. He reached another major career milestone Saturday night, and in the process put his name next to a record for victories through that kind of workload, a reminder that Tampa Bay has had the same elite presence in net for an unusually long stretch.
He backed it up the way he usually does, turning aside 20 of 21 shots and earning first-star honors. Vasilevskiy already owns the mark as the fastest goalie to 300 wins, and if he keeps winning at anything close to this pace, the chase toward 400 could arrive sooner than most players ever get within sight of it. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Showed Fans Something Encouraging In Their First Real Test
The home opener offered Tampa Bay a useful first look at how the pieces might fit together, and the Lightning came away with a 3-1 win over Washington. Goals from Charle-Edouard DAstous, Conor Geekie and Jake Guentzel gave the building plenty to cheer about, while the overall performance had the kind of steadiness that can matter early in a season when teams are still sorting out roles and rhythm.
Jon Cooper also used the night to try a few lineup tweaks, giving the roster a different look as he searched for the right combinations. Gage Goncalves getting a chance higher in the order stood out as part of that evaluation, and the result was encouraging enough to keep the conversation going about what this group might look like once the coach settles on his preferred mix. [Read more 🡒]