By ERIK ERLENDSSON<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves, Charle-Edouard D\u2019Astous and Conor Geekie scored in the first period and the Tampa Bay Lightning won their home opener with a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Brandon Hagel had two assists for the Lightning, and Jake Guentzel scored into an empty net and had an assist. Tampa Bay opened play Thursday night in New York with a 5-1 loss to the Rangers.<\/p>\n
Charlie Lindgren finished with 27 saves for Washington. Justin Sourdif scored for the Capitals.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Astous put Tampa Bay up 1-0 at 2:26 of the opening period as he cut down from the point into the middle slot to take a pass from Brandon Hagel and zipped a wrist shot past Lindgren.<\/p>\n
The Lightning finished off the period with a goal from Geekie, who was off the right wing side to take a pass from Hagel for a quick shot to the inside of the post with 3:30 top go for a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
The Capitals, who opened Friday with a win in Carolina, cut the deficit in half in the second period on a redirect from Sourdif off a point shot from Jacob Chychurn.<\/p>\n
Guentzel scored with 2:05 left in the third.<\/p>\n
Washington played the third period without defenseman Matt Roy, who suffered a lower-body injury and did not return.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay defenseman John Carlson, who spent 17 seasons with the Capitals, played his first career game against Washington, picking up an assist on the empty-net goal.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Capitals: Host Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Lightning: Host Philadelphia on Monday night.<\/p>\n