Lightning defeat Capitals in Cup Qualifiers round-robin

Nikita Kucherov scored for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 3-2 shootout win against the Washington Capitals in a round-robin game in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Monday.

Kucherov scored in the first period and scored the shootout winner in the first round-robin game for each team. He snapped a wrist shot past Holtby's glove in the third round for the deciding goal.

Brayden Point also scored in the shootout for the Lightning, who also play the Boston Bruins (Wednesday) and Philadelphia Flyers (Saturday) in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city, to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

WATCH: [All Capitals vs. Lightning highlights]

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves for Tampa Bay and two on three shots in the shootout.

"Happy with a lot of the things that happened in this game," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It was unfortunate we had a two-goal lead and let it slide in a couple-minute span. But there's a lot of good things to build off."

Richard Panik and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for the Capitals, who will play the Flyers (Thursday) and the Bruins (Sunday) in the round-robin.

The seeds for the playoffs will be determined by points in the round-robin, with regular-season points percentage the tiebreaker. Round-robin games in the Cup Qualifiers are played with regular-season overtime and shootout rules.

Braden Holtby made 26 saves for Washington before making one on three shots in the shootout.

"We weren't expecting perfection this game, but I think the important part is, the first part of periods they got some action and we didn't panic," Holtby said. "We righted the ship. I think that's important. ... They come in waves. They always have, and you just weather the storm there and then wait for your opportunity to get in and be physical and grind them down, and it showed in the two goals."

Defenseman John Carlson did not play for the Capitals. He left a 3-2 exhibition win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday during the third period because of an injury.

"All I can say is he was unable to participate tonight," Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. "We'll have tomorrow off, then reevaluate from there."

The Lightning were without forward Steven Stamkos (lower-body injury).

Tampa Bay led 2-0 after a goal by Mitchell Stephens at 7:48 of the second period, but the Capitals tied the game with two goals in the final 2:36 of the period.

Vasilevskiy lost a deflected shot by Capitals defenseman Radko Gudas between his skates, and Panik reached in and poked it over the goal line to make it 2-1 at 17:24. Kuznetsov pushed a loose puck under Vasilevskiy for a power-play goal at 19:32 to make it 2-2.

"To come from behind two goals vs. a very good skating team and we're able to tie things up there, I just felt like as we got going we were finding our stride a little bit more and then eventually we were able to wear them down a little bit with our physical play," Reirden said. "I thought the more we invested physically, then we were able to see some benefits of it."

The Lightning felt they were able to handle the Capitals' physical play and regain momentum in the third period.

"I thought we were in their face," said Tampa Bay forward Pat Maroon, who had three of Tampa Bay's 45 hits, to Washington's 44. "That's the kind of team we need to be, just kind of have that mentality to push back. ... I thought we did a really good job of just staying in it, not getting frustrated when they were throwing big hits and responding at the right time."

That approach might have been missing from the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, when they were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference First Round. Since then, the Lightning added Maroon, forwards Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow, and defenseman Zach Bogosian, each of whom plays a physical game.

"You've got to look the other team in the eye, and in previous years we haven't done that as well as we should have," Cooper said. "We brought in some players that have helped us in that regard immensely. It's a man's game when you get into the playoffs, and the confidence of our group and the no-back-down attitude is definitely something that we've noticed."

Kucherov gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 12:53 of the first period. Goodrow and Brayden Point forced Capitals forward Lars Eller to turn over the puck at center ice. Point carried it into the Washington zone and passed it to Kucherov, and his shot from the left circle beat Holtby to the far side, over his glove.

NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report