The Backcheck: Tampa Bay holds off Capitals with Hagel’s game-winner

Despite the Washington Capitals tying Saturday’s Eastern Conference game at Benchmark International Arena near the end of the second period, the host Lightning had an appropriate answer for the Capitals in the third—the game-winning goal.

Lightning rookie Dominic James entered the offensive zone and tapped the puck to Brandon Hagel, who deked to the top of the faceoff circles and sent a shot over the glove of Washington goalie Logan Thompson with 11:18 left in the game.

That goal was the difference in a 3-2 win for Tampa Bay, which improved to 8-5-2 on the season and has now won seven of its past eight games.

"It's called experience,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of how his team is finding ways to win close games of late. “You live through them, and you see what clearly wasn't working for us, and we don't really make those mistakes we made early in the year. I'd sit here after every game and say, 'We fed the other team. We shot ourselves in the foot.' We're not doing that anymore."

Saturday’s game required the Lightning to battle through multiple tests—defenseman Ryan McDonagh left with an undisclosed injury in the first period and did not return. Washington led 1-0 before the game’s five-minute mark. An unlucky bounce against Tampa Bay tied the game just prior to the second period’s conclusion.

All of it was unfortunate, but none of it proved too much to overcome for Tampa Bay.

“They’re a good team,” Cooper said of the Capitals. “They had a plan, and fortunately for us we got to hang on.”

The visitors were the first team to score on Saturday, their goal coming from forward Brandon Duhaime 4:06 into play.

Duhaime snuck near the right goalpost to score on a shot from the goal line following a pass from Ethen Frank.

Tampa Bay didn’t make fans at Benchmark International Arena wait long for the tying goal.

Defenseman Emil Lilleberg’s first goal of the season evened things up for Tampa Bay, his one-timer from the center hashmarks beating Washington goalie Logan Thompson just 2:01 after the Duhaime marker.

Defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous and forward Jake Guentzel completed a give-and-go passing play that ended with Guentzel possessing the puck below the goal line. That’s where the latter dished a pass to a driving Lilleberg, whose shot fooled Thompson on the low left side of the net and tied the score.

Tampa Bay then utilized a power-play chance to claim its first lead late in the first period.

Captain Victor Hedman’s point shot from atop the power play caromed off Guentzel’s shinpad, then off a goalpost and in to make it 2-1 with 4:51 remaining in the first period.

The Lightning have now scored three power-play goals over the team’s last two games.

“Just getting reps and just moving the puck quick and getting shots,” Guentzel said of the power play’s recent success postgame. “I think the best thing to do is shoot the puck and create stuff off that.”

Washington had the only score of the second period on an odd bounce. Defenseman John Carlson’s slap shot was initially saved by goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, then crawled toward the goal line before hitting the stick of a Tampa Bay defender and crossing the line for the tying goal with 2:52 left in the second period.

The Lightning persisted, and Hagel’s third-period goal—his seventh in his last seven games—was the difference on a night he co-led the team alongside defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous (two assists) and Guentzel with two points. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 of 30 shots for his fifth win of the season.

Despite allowing the tying goal, the Lightning never backed down, according to Hagel. They plan to keep that mindset moving forward, one they’ve developed with the help of experience, just as their coach said.

“I just don't think we're deflating when we get scored on,” Hagel said postgame.

“I think that's how our heads were kind of hanging early into the season when you get scored on…It kind of happened over and over again, where they’d tie it up and then they'd win it early on in the season and kind of that mindset of, ‘Here we go again’…But now it just kind of is what it is. We're kind of finding our mojo as a team. Everyone's up, the next shift is important. We go out there and try to do our best. So I think that's kind of the reality of our team right now.”

Tampa Bay’s next game is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, when they host the New York Rangers.

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Brandon Hagel, TBL (Goal, assist)
2. Jake Guentzel, TBL (Goal, assist)
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (28 saves, win)