Visiting the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, the Washington Capitals played their second game of the season and second game of the weekend, while the responsible NHL schedule-makers remain suspiciously unjailed.
Charle-Edouard D’Astous had us all shouting sacré bleu when he beat Charlie Lindgren just two minutes into the game. Conor Geekie doubled Tampa’s lead at the end of a passing sequence with Hagel and Guentzel.
The Caps looked better – and meaner – in the second period, with Justin Sourdif‘s lone goal cutting Tampa’s lead to one. But when Spencer Carbery pulled Charlie Lindgren for an extra attacker late in the third, Jake Guentzel sunk the empty-netter.
Lightning beat Caps 3-1.
- The Caps looked miserable in the opening frame. The Bolts jumped out to an early lead and controlled the possession game utterly. The Caps didn’t have a shot on goal in the first five minutes, had just five in the first period, and I can’t recall any sustained pressure in the whole frame.
- If you’re new here, I try really hard not to do the “should of had that” routine with goalies. Jakob Chychrun goofed on coverage for the first goal, and Hagel and Guentzel’s precise passing made the second one happen. Charlie Lindgren didn’t distinguish himself on those two, but he locked down the net for the rest of that period and the rest of the game, including a monster save halfway into the third period. I’m rooting for him to have a bounce-back year.
- The second period got spicy. I think the Caps considered their options for Plan B and went for “eh, we’re huge, let’s just be buttheads.” Buttheads they were, culminating in this fight between Emil Lilleberg and Vincent Desharnais.
- The Bolts have some of the best player names in the entire league right now. Really setting the pace.
- Matt Roy did not play the last five minutes of the second period and did not return for the third. The Caps said he has suffered a lower-body injury. That’s a big loss.
- Justin Sourdif was probably the feel-good story of last season, as long as you were the RMNB writer who was too busy with a newborn to voice an opinion on him until the spring. He’s had a good weekend, adding the first goal of his season to a solid shutdown outing in Raleigh.
- The Alex Ovechkin experiment continues. I didn’t even mention him in the first recap. He’s playing historically light minutes, even if he’s maybe still outstaying his welcome on the power play. Nothing major to report from him – he drew a penalty and got the energy going in the second period.
- Loved this.
Midseason-quality color coordination #joebsuitofthenight
— Good Skeet Pete (@peterhassett.net) 2026-10-03T22:58:42.339Z
That’s a tough way to start a season: back-to-back road games against two very strong possession teams. The Caps struggled to generate and sustain offense in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy, and that made all the difference.
The team returns home now to rest up before their home opener on Wednesday.
