TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Hagel scored the tiebreaking goal 8:42 into the third period and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Saturday night.
Hagel and Jake Guentzel each had a goal and an assist as Tampa Bay won for the seventh time in eight games. Emil Lilleberg scored his first goal of the season, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
Charle-Edouard D’Astous had two assists for the Lightning.
Brandon Duhaime and John Carlson scored for Washington, which has one win in the past seven games. Logan Thompson, who stopped 16 shots, allowed more than two goals for the first time in 10 starts.
Hagel took a pass from rookie Dominic James in traffic inside the blue line, cut underneath James and fired a shot from the slot for his seventh goal in the last seven games.
Duhaime put the Capitals in front quickly, taking a pass from Ethen Frank and scoring on a snap shot from a side angle that banked in off Vasilevskiy at 4:06 of the first period.
Tampa Bay answered when Lilleberg joined the rush and one-timed a pass from Guentzel in the slot at 6:07.
Guentzel put the Lightning in front with a power-play goal when Victor Hedman’s point shot deflected off his shin pad at 15:09.
Carlson pulled Washington even when his slap shot from inside the blue line squeaked through Vasilevskiy and sat in the paint before Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak knocked the puck into the net with 2:52 left in the second period.
Capitals: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
Lightning: Host the New York Rangers on Wednesday.
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