The Washington Capitals will NOT become the first team in NHL history to go undefeated in the regular season. Last night in Tampa, the Caps lost to the Lightning 3-1. After easily beating the Hurricanes the night before, the Caps looked off. They didn’t generate a lot of chances in the first two periods before pouring it on in the 3rd period. The Caps had just two power plays for the second night in a row and failed to score a goal. It’s only the second game of the season so there is no reason to panic. But based on the past few years, the power play needs to show more life.
Charlie Lindgren stopped 27 of 29 shots, only giving up two goals (the third was an empty netter for the Bolts.) Lindgren played very well in the preseason, and it seems he has carried that over into the regular season. With Thompson or Lindgren in goal this season, the Caps should win a lot of games this season if they can fix some of the other issues from last night.
The Caps had a hard time generating offense and Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Matt Roy had Vasilevskiy beat at one point in the 2nd period, but he hit the post. Tampa is a good team and deserve credit for strong defensive play, but the Caps looked out of sync and looked much better against Carolina Friday night.
Roy would later leave the game after suffering the dreaded “lower body injury” in the 3rd period. Roy is right-handed and one of the team’s best penalty killers. No word yet on how long he will be out. Ryan Chesley, who is also a right-handed defenseman, could be the first call up from Hershey if Roy misses any time.
The Caps only won 37.5% (18 of 48) of their faceoffs last night. Dylan Strome (42%), Boone Jenner (38%), and Pierre-Luc Dubois (25%) were not very good last night and they have to improve. The bright spot was Ilya Protas who won 5 of 10 faceoffs. In a perfect world, a team should win more than fifty percent of their faceoffs. It won’t happen every game, but this is an area the Caps needed to address in the offseason. They did bring in Jenner, who has a career faceoff percentage of 54%, but this has to improve or it’s going to be a rough season.
After a scrum in front of Lindgren, Desharnais and Lilleberg drop the mitts #ALLCAPS #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/HKzp6aqbNF
— Capitals Replays (@CapitalsReplays) October 4, 2026
First fight of the season is in the books! Vincent Desharnais dropped the gloves with Emil Lilleberg in the 2nd period last night. It was also his first fight as a Washington Capital. The 6’7” Desharnais was signed and paired with rookie Cole Hutson. He’s expected to mentor the young defenseman and to add more snarl to the blueline. Desharnais took exception to some action after the whistle and stuck up for his new teammates. I'd call it a draw since both players fell to their knees during the fight but popped back up to keep swinging. Welcome to Washington, Seaweed Man!
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