When the puck dropped in Tampa Bay on Saturday, the Washington Capitals, coming off a convincing win over the Carolina Hurricanes, weren't exactly ready to play, as they got outmatched early on. And while Charlie Lindgren kept them in it while they got to their game, it wasn't enough for two points.
Justin Sourdif scored to help pull D.C. back into the fight, but a slow start, a lack of execution and too much time in the box led to a costly 3-1 loss to the Lightning.
Here are all the takeaways.
Capitals Start Slow, Get Back To Game Plan Too Little, Too Late As They Fail To Execute
To open action on Saturday, Tampa controlled the play, setting the tone as Washington found itself on its heels and spending the majority of the time in the defensive zone.
Just 2:26 minutes into action, the Lightning went up 1-0 after Charle-Edouard D'Astous used Jakob Chychrun as a screen and sniped a quick shot high past Charlie Lindgren. Later in the frame, Tampa extended its lead to 2-0, with Conor Geekie finishing off a picture-perfect passing play from Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel on an odd-man break into the zone.
The Bolts outs hot the Capitals 14-5 in the first period, and Washington just looked a step behind coming out of the opening frame, where it failed to get momentum going while struggling to really generate a lot on Andrei Vasilevskiy. Tampa also blocked 19 shots and outplayed D.C. overall.
Over the course of the game, Washington got some momentum back, as Justin Sourdif got on the board, crashing the front of the net and redirecting a point feed from Chychrun past Vasilevskiy. Boone Jenner also recorded his first point as a Capital with the secondary assist.
While the Capitals got back into the swing of things and got to the way it wanted to play, with shots and chances more even throughout the rest of the game, it wasn't enough to come back, and Guentzel iced the game late with an empty-netter.
Penalty Kill Strong, Power Play Comes Up Empty While Matt Roy Leaves With Injury
After taking six penalties the night before, Washington tried to stay out of the box against the Lightning, but still ended up taking three penalties, leading to a busy night again for the penalty kill, which stood tall once again.
Matt Roy usually takes on the brunt of the penalty killing duties for the blue line, but was hurt in the second period and did not return as he deals with a lower-body injury. Per Spencer Carbery, Roy will be evaluated when the team returns home, and there is no update on the severity of the injury at this time.
With Roy out, Vincent Desharnais led the team's defense with 3:20 minutes on the penalty kill, and looked strong as he teamed up with Tom Wilson and Boone Jenner, both first over the boards on the PK, to help D.C. go 3-for-3. Desharnais led the team with four hits, and Timothy Liljegren, who also helped fill Roy's void, had a team-leading three blocks.
Charlie Lindgren Puts Up Strong First Showing In Season Debut
Despite the loss, the Capitals got a standout performance from Charlie Lindgren between the pipes.
Lindgren, who is determined to have a bounceback year, got off to an ideal start to his season, making some big saves to help keep the Capitals in the game, especially in the first when the team was being heavily outshot and outplayed.
The 32-year-old netminder stopped 27 of 29 shots for a .931 save percentage, and the goals against him came off misreads that left him in a difficult position. He also made a major stop late in the third and helped shut down a late power play to keep Washington within one.
Overall, it's the promising kind of game that the team wanted to see from its backup goaltender, especially on the second night of a back-to-back.
