Vasilevskiy makes 32 saves, Lightning shut out Capitals

TAMPA -- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-0 win against the Washington Capitals at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Conor Geekie scored his first NHL goal, and Nikita Kucherov had an assist to extend his season-opening point streak to eight games for the Lightning (5-3-0), who had lost three of four. It was Vasilevskiy’s 35th NHL shutout.

"They had a couple of shots from the blue line. The guys did a great job in front boxing out," Vasilevskiy said. "Some of the plays like J.J. [Moser] did in the third period, the great backcheck on [Alex Ovechkin]. I don’t want to see that in the third ... ‘Ovi’ all alone in front. Great job by everyone."

Charlie Lindgren made 18 saves for the Capitals (5-2-0), who had their five-game winning streak end.

"I thought we played a good game,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Territorial we were OK. … They've got a good team and they've got a top six that's as good as anybody in the NHL, so they are going to get you on your heels for a couple of sequences. But overall we created a ton of good looks. Just didn't make that play that we needed to make, couldn't make that last play."

Mitchell Chaffee gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 5:27 of the second period, redirecting a shot by Nick Paul over Lindgren’s glove.

"In the second period tonight I thought we bent a bit but we didn't break," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "So, now we get to go in 1-0, we don't give up the lead, then come out and score those two quick ones early (in the third period) and kind of popped their balloon."

Brayden Point extended the lead to 2-0 at 2:26 of the third when he scored from the edge of the crease to finish a give-and-go with Kucherov.

"I thought we, as a group, played pretty hard, played pretty well, probably deserved more than the scoreboard showed," Washington forward Tom Wilson said. "But that's hockey sometimes. We've got to find a way to kind of crack it open in those games when there's not much of anything going on."

Geekie made it 3-0 at 3:10 with a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a pass by Anthony Cirelli.

"[Brandon Hagel] is a great guy, Tony too. They make it easy on you," said Geekie, who was playing his eighth NHL game. "It makes it a lot easier coming to the rink when you are playing with those two. Hopefully more to come. For now, I think it’s just keep putting in the work, and hopefully we can keep it going."

NOTES: Kucherov has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) during his point streak, which is tied with former teammate Steven Stamkos (2012-13) for the second-longest streak to begin a season in Lightning history. The record is 11 games, held by Kucherov (2017-18), Stamkos (2017-18) and Martin St. Louis (2009-10). ... The Lightning’s previous shutout of the Capitals was April 13, 2014, a 1-0 shootout victory.