Guentzel has three points, Lightning edge Capitals in home opener

TAMPA -- Jake Guentzel had a goal and two assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 3-1 win against the Washington Capitals at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday.

Charle-Edouard D'Astous and Conor Geekie scored for the Lightning (1-1-0), who lost 5-1 to the New York Rangers in their season opener on Thursday. Brandon Hagel had two assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves.

"It was one win, in the end it wasn't the final result, it was how we were getting to that point," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "What you saw tonight is what we expect night in and night out. It's hard to do, especially with schedules and back-to-backs and things like that, but you give an effort and you compete. We won a ton of battles, which was the complete opposite of what happened the night before."

Justin Sourdif scored for Washington (1-1-0), which beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in its season opener on Friday. Charlie Lindgren made 27 saves. 

"Credit to our group. I thought the second and third period we played some really good hockey," Lindgren said. "It was a 2-1 game late into the third against a really good hockey team in their building. I thought it was a really good effort."

D'Astous gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 2:26 of the first period after Hagel sent a pass to him at the top of the right circle and he sent a wrist shot past Lindgren short side over the blocker.

"We came out here and competed all over the ice and in the D-zone," Hagel said. "I think maybe we deserved a few more, but we stuck with it and were able to grind one out."

Geekie extended the Lightning lead to 2-0 at 16:30 with a one-timer from the right circle that beat Lindgren to the stick side off a pass from Hagel.

"I think maybe we came out flat on Thursday, but that game was past us and we couldn't let it happen again," Geekie said. "Every guy stepped up. I could go down the whole roster. I think everyone was great tonight."

Sourdif made it 2-1 at 7:04 of the second period after Jakob Chychrun sent the puck toward the net from the point and Sourdif redirected the puck past Vasilevskiy from the slot. 

"It's definitely good for the confidence, but two points would've been better," Sourdif said. "I thought we didn't come out very strong. It's tough on a back-to-back, but it's their home opener and we knew they were going to come out strong. I've got to be better prepared and come out for a full 60 minutes against a hockey team like that."

Guentzel added an empty-net goal at 17:55 off a pass from Nikita Kucherov for the 3-1 final. John Carlson, playing in his first game against his former team, also had an assist on the goal.

"Just the first put us behind the 8-ball and it ends up costing us," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "The second and third were fine. I thought we did some good things in those 40 minutes. Just the first period cost us."

NOTES: Carlson was plus-1 in 20:35. … Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had an assist and moved into a tie with Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Bossy for 67th all-time with 1,126 points. … Vasilevskiy and Washington’s Dylan Strome each played in his 600th NHL game. … Capitals defenseman Matt Roy left the game with a lower-body injury.