Lightning continue to roll up points with win over Capitals

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Nov 8, 2025

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — His lip bloodied from being knocked into the goal earlier in the game, Lightning forward Brandon Hagel had the final say Saturday night against the Capitals.

Hagel’s game-winning goal came 8:42 into the third period, giving the Lightning a 3-2 win at Benchmark International Arena.

The Lightning (8-5-2) won for the seventh time in their last eight games. Eleven of their 15 games this season have been decided by one goal, and Tampa Bay is 5-4-2 in those contests.

Without Anthony Cirelli, who missed the game with an undisclosed injury sustained Thursday at Vegas, rookie Dominic James, nine games into his NHL career, moved into a top-six role and led the rush on Hagel’s winning goal.

James skated with speed through the middle, dropping a pass to the trailing Hagel, whose wrister from above the hashes beat goaltender Logan Thompson. Hagel has scored in six of the last seven games (seven goals during that stretch), with the Lightning going 6-1.

Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced and made two huge saves in the final minutes of 5-on-5 play with the Lightning on the power play and the Capitals with an extra attacker after pulling their goaltender.

His stop on Washington defenseman Jakob Chychrun with 73 seconds remaining — Vasilevskiy extended and deflected the shot away with his blocker — was game-saving.

The game got heated after Capitals forward Tom Wilson knocked Hagel into the goal with a blindside hit with 3:11 left in the second period. Hagel was charging to the net when Wilson hit him, lifting his stick up toward the head area and sending Hagel into a collision with Thompson.

Hagel emerged from the net spitting out blood. While there was no penalty on Wilson, Lightning rookie forward Jack Finley, who jumped Wilson after the hit, and Capitals forward Ryan Leonard went to the box for roughing.

The Capitals tied the game 18 seconds into the ensuing 4-on-4 on John Carlson’s one-timer from the top of the right circle. The shot leaked past Vasilevskiy to the goal line, where defenseman Erik Cernak accidentally knocked the puck in trying to take it off the red line.

Something suddenly seems to be going right for the Lightning power play, and the man advantage gave them a second-period lead.

After a 1-for-20 stretch and a 4-for-43 slump followed two power-play goals on opening night, Jake Guentzel’s go-ahead goal with 4:51 left in the first period was the third straight power play on which the Lightning scored.

One of the Tampa Bay’s recent personnel changes was elevating defenseman Darren Raddysh to the top power-play unit. But it was Victor Hedman who came onto the ice midway into the first power play and rocketed a one-timer from the center point that Guentzel redirected into the net from in front.

After the Capitals’ Brandon Duhaime opened the scoring 4:06 into the game, Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg evened the score with his first goal of the season 2:01 later, jumping up in the play and scoring from the slot on a feed from Guentzel from behind the net.

The Lightning played more than two periods without defenseman Ryan McDonagh, whose last shift ended with 1:16 remaining in the first. He entered the night second on the team in average ice time (21:09) and led all Tampa Bay defensemen with three goals.

Besides McDonagh and Cirelli, the Lightning were temporarily down to 10 forwards for about seven minutes in the middle of the second period after James went down the tunnel after taking a shot to the right side of his face.