Anthony Cirelli recorded the go-ahead goal and added two assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning dealt visiting Washington its first regulation loss, beating the Capitals 3-2 on Monday.
In a matchup between perennial Eastern Conference powers, the Lightning defeated Washington for the second time in just over two weeks. They earned a 2-1 overtime road win against the Capitals on Oct. 16.
Red-hot Alex Killorn and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who crafted their first three-game winning streak thus far. In his eighth career game, rookie forward Taylor Raddysh registered an assist for his first NHL point.
Starting for the 300th time in a regular-season game, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 of 33 shots and won his third straight start.
Brett Leason — one of four rookies in Washington’s lineup — notched his first career goal in his second game. Conor Sheary produced his first tally, and goalie Vitek Vanececk made 23 saves.
After claiming points in eight straight (5-0-3) in October, the Capitals failed to match their best point-streak start ever — nine games, set last year during a 6-0-3 beginning.
Each team went 1-for-4 on the power play.
Leason flipped in a seemingly harmless shot from near the boards above the right circle, but Victor Hedman clipped the puck and redirected it past Vasilevskiy 73 seconds in for a 1-0 lead.
The Lightning’s hottest player, Killorn netted for his fourth consecutive contest early in the second. The left wing poked in a puck in front of Vanecek for his fifth marker in his past four games.
His team-leading seventh at 3:18 knotted it at 1, and Cirelli — playing on a two-man advantage — put the home side up by batting home his second goal on a puck that bounced off him in front of the crease at 8:40.
On a turnover in the neutral zone early in the third, Raddysh stripped defenseman Justin Schultz and flipped the puck forward to Point, who sped in and beat Vanecek at 2:56 — his fourth goal and Cirelli’s second helper.
On a sharp pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov, Sheary cut the deficit to 3-2 by chipping in his first goal on the team’s fourth power play at 11:38.
But Vasilevskiy preserved the win with a pair of good saves after Vanecek left the ice for the extra skater twice in the last 90 seconds.
–Field Level Media