In a polar-opposite game from Thursday’s loss in New York, the Lightning received strong performances throughout the lineup and recorded a win in their home opener against an excellent Washington team.
The Lightning were motivated to improve upon their outing against the Rangers and came out of the gates flying. They thoroughly dominated the first period, badly outpossessing and outchancing the Caps, who had played the night before.
Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren was the lone player in the Caps lineup who hadn’t played the previous night, and he did well to prevent the Lightning from blowing the game open during the opening frame. But he did allow two first-period goals, and those tallies ended up being critical to the Lightning’s victory.
After going with a 12F-6D lineup versus the Rangers, the Lightning dressed 11 forwards and 7 defensemen against the Caps. Emil Lilleberg made his season debut, and early in the game, he was on the ice with Charle-Edouard D’Astous—the two were frequent D partners last season. Lilleberg dumped the puck into the Washington end. Brandon Hagel collected it along the boards near the left circle and wired a cross-ice pass to D’Astous at the top of the right circle. D’Astous zipped a shot over Lindgren’s stick at 2:26.
The Lightning generated numerous scoring chances throughout the remainder of the first period but were unable to extend the lead until the closing minutes. Off the rush, Jake Guentzel fed Hagel in the slot. Hagel tapped a pass to Conor Geekie at the right circle. Geekie one-timed his shot past Lindgren’s stick at 16:30.
After the first period, the Caps pushed back and leveled the ice. They got on the board at 7:18 of the second, when Justin Sourdif deflected a Jakob Chychrun shot over Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove.
But the Lightning kept their own compete level high and never allowed the Caps to tie things up. The final 40 minutes were evenly played.
After the Sourdif goal, the Lightning didn’t make many defensive mistakes. When they did, Vasilevskiy made saves to preserve the lead. One of his best came on a Tom Wilson redirection during a third-period Washington power play.
Following an icing against the Lightning with 2:28 remaining, the Caps pulled Lindgren in advance of the ensuing offensive-zone faceoff. The Caps won the draw and eventually worked the puck to Alex Ovechkin for a left-circle shot attempt. His former teammate John Carlson blocked the shot. Seconds later, Carlson got the puck to Nikita Kucherov, who moved it to Guentzel at center ice. Guentzel scored into the empty net at 17:55.
The Caps pulled Lindgren again, hoping to cut into the deficit. They applied heavy pressure during those final two minutes, posting four shots on net and 10 total attempts. But the puck stayed out.
The Lightning used a terrific first period to build their lead. But it’d be wrong to say they won the game in the opening frame. They needed to maintain their high level over the final 40 minutes to preserve their advantage. They did it—and as a result, they picked up their first win of the season.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 20 saves in 600th NHL game.
- Conor Geekie — Lightning. GWG.
- Brandon Hagel — Lightning. Two assists.
