The Lightning’s first night back at Benchmark International Arena looked a lot more like the team they wanted to be.
After opening the season with a flat loss in New York, Tampa Bay came home Saturday and played with far more pace, energy and urgency, beating the Capitals 3-1 in front of a charged-up crowd that started gathering more than three hours before puck drop. The blue carpet arrival scene had the building buzzing, and the Lightning carried that energy onto the ice.
Tampa Bay went with an 11-forward, seven-defenseman setup, and it showed in the way the bench stayed involved all night as the lines and pairings kept shifting. That rotation helped the Lightning push the pace they had been missing in their season opener, and they grabbed control early.
Charle-Edouard D’Astous gave Tampa Bay its first lead of the season just 2:26 into the game. He jumped into the play, took a cross-ice pass from Brandon Hagel at the edge of the right circle and beat Charlie Lindgren near the post on his stick side.
The Lightning kept pressing, and later in the first period they made Washington pay for a turnover in the neutral zone after Capitals forward Justin Sourdif lost his stick. D’Astous moved the puck quickly out of the defensive zone, Jake Guentzel fed Hagel as he entered the offensive zone, and Hagel drew attention between the circles before finding Conor Geekie wide open. Geekie dropped to one knee and fired a one-timer past Lindgren from the right circle to make it 2-0 with 16:30 gone in the opening period.
Washington got one back just over seven minutes into the second when Sourdif slipped behind Geekie and Jeff Viel and redirected a Jakob Chychrun shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The game also had a jolt from Emil Lilleberg, who was making his season debut as Tampa Bay’s seventh defenseman. He dropped the gloves with Washington enforcer Vincent Desharnais in the second period and raised his arms toward the Lightning bench on his way to the penalty box.
Guentzel sealed it with an empty-net goal with 2:05 left.
Vasilevskiy didn’t face a huge volume, seeing only 20 shots, but he came up with the biggest stop of the night when he denied Tom Wilson’s tip-in from the edge of the crease with his right pad in the final second of a Capitals power play. He finished with 19 saves and picked up his first win of the season.
In Other News...
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 🡒]
Lightning Blue Line Already Facing An Early Season Problem
The Lightning are dealing with an early blue-line concern after Emil Lilleberg exited the clubs recent game with an injury and was not on the ice for the next practice while he underwent further examination. With Tampa Bay trying to sort out its defenseman depth early in the season, the timing is less than ideal for a group that is already being asked to absorb some attrition.
Assistant coach Rob Zettler said the team expects to have a better handle on Lillebergs status before the next game, which leaves a little uncertainty hanging over the matchup ahead. If Lilleberg is unavailable, the Lightning may need to lean on options such as Max Crozier to help fill the gap on the back end and keep the rotation steady. [Read more 🡒]