Lightning rebound with win over Capitals in home opener

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Oct 3, 2026

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — Getting back to Tampa for their home opener was seemingly the perfect antidote for the Lightning after their disappointing opening-night loss to the Rangers two nights earlier in New York.

Hundreds of fans showed up more than three hours before game time Saturday night, lining the blue carpet as players arrived. Even though playoff baseball was going on across the bridge, Benchmark International Arena was full of electricity and excitement.

And come game time, the Lightning made sure they had the pace that they had lacked down the stretch Thursday. An 11-forward, seven-defenseman lineup certainly helped, because it kept the bench engaged as players had different line and pairing combinations throughout the night.

The Lightning rebounded with a 3-1 win over the Capitals. Brandon Hagel, who said after Thursday’s four-goal loss in New York that the team’s ability to recover started with him, had the primary assist on Tampa Bay’s first two goals as it took a quick 2-0 lead 16:30 into the game. The Lightning clearly took advantage of a Capitals squad that had played its opener the night before at Carolina.

Defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous gave the Lightning their first lead of the season just 2:26 into the game, jumping up in the play and taking a cross-ice feed from Hagel at the edge of the right circle and beating goaltender Charlie Lindgren near-post on his stick side.

Later in the period, D’Astous moved the puck quickly out of the defensive zone, and the Lightning took advantage of Capitals forward Justin Sourdif losing his stick in the neutral zone. Taking a pass from Jake Guentzel entering the offensive zone, Hagel drew attention his way as he skated between the circles, then found a wide-open Conor Geekie, who dropped to one knee and unloaded a one-timer past Lindgren from the right circle.

Sourdif cut the Lightning’s lead to one just over seven minutes into the second period, when he slipped behind Geekie and Jeff Viel and redirected a puck from defenseman Jakob Chychrun past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Emil Lilleberg, making his season debut as Tampa Bay’s seventh defenseman, lit a spark when he dropped his gloves with Washington enforcer Vincent Desharnais in the second period, raising his arms toward the Lightning bench on his way to the penalty box.

Guentzel added an empty-net goal with 2:05 left to play.

Vasilevskiy saw only 20 shots but made a huge game-saving stop in the final second of a Capitals power play, denying Tom Wilson’s tip-in from the edge of the crease with his right pad. Vasilevskiy finished with 19 saves to earn his first win of the season.