Recap: Lightning 3, Capitals 1

The Tampa Bay Lightning pushed their winning streak to eight games with Saturday’s afternoon victory over the Washington Capitals.

Tampa Bay defeated Washington 3-1 at Capital One Arena to improve to 35-20-4 this season.

A rebound goal for Mitchell Chaffee on the power play gave the visitors a 1-0 lead late in the first period.

Gage Goncalves pushed the Lightning lead to 2-0 six minutes into the third period with his shot from distance. Alex Ovechkin scored Washington’s lone goal with just under four minutes remaining in the game, but an empty-net goal sealed the Lightning win.

Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves for his eighth straight win.

The Lightning will visit the Florida Panthers (36-21-3 this season) on Monday.

Scoring summary
First period
TBL 1, WSH 0
17:11 Mitchell Chaffee (11) - Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov - PP
Lightning forward Mitchell Chaffee buried a rebound after a Brayden Point shot on the power play, sneaking the puck under Washington goalie Logan Thompson from the left faceoff circle.

Shots on goal: TBL 10, WSH 5

Second period
None.

Shots on goal: WSH 8, TBL 6

Third period
TBL 2, WSH 0
6:08 Gage Goncalves (2) - Nick Paul
Tampa Bay rookie Gage Goncalves extended the Lightning lead, whistling his snap shot into the top left corner of the Washington net from atop the faceoff circles after a drop pass from Nick Paul in the right corner.

TBL 2, WSH 1
16:01 Alex Ovechkin (31) - Matt Roy
A loose puck found a spinning Alex Ovechkin in the high slot, where the player chasing the NHL’s all-time goals mark slashed into the Lightning lead.

TBL 3, WSH 1
19:01 Brandon Hagel (30) - Ryan McDonagh - EN
An empty-net goal for Brandon Hagel secured the Lightning win.

Total shots: WSH 22, TBL 19