Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his first shutout this season, rookie Conor Geekie notched his first NHL goal, and the Tampa Bay Lightning shut out the visiting Washington Capitals 3-0 on Saturday night in a matchup of Eastern Conference powers.
In crafting his 35th career shutout, Vasilevskiy made 31 saves and benefited from 19 blocked shots by his teammates. The win was the 297th of his career and the Lightning’s first shutout of Washington since April 2014.
The 20-year-old Geekie ripped his first career goal in the third period to put his club ahead 3-0.
Mitchell Chaffee and Brayden Point also scored as Tampa Bay won for the third time in four games at home (3-1-0). Eight Lightning notched points in the win.
The fourth-highest scoring team in the league, the Capitals didn’t generate many good chances against Vasilevskiy and had their five-game winning streak end. Charlie Lindgren made 17 saves.
In the first of the clubs’ three meetings, Washington had the initial great scoring chance when Aliaksei Protas found a loose puck in the neutral zone and broke in on Vasilevskiy inside the match’s first three minutes. But Vasilevskiy got a glove on the shot and kept it scoreless.
Just like Vasilevskiy with his eight saves, Lindgren was equally up to the task, stuffing all seven attempts he faced in the first period. The Capitals got the only power play with 1:23 left in the first 20 minutes on Michael Eyssimont’s tripping penalty.
Eyssimont redeemed himself by sliding a pass in the left circle to Nick Paul, who flipped the puck on Lindgren. Camped out front, Chaffee reached out and tipped it in for his second goal of the season at 5:27 of the second period.
The rest of the frame remained physical, but Vasilevskiy managed to stop all 17 shots he faced to keep the Capitals off the board.
In the third period, the Lightning created the separation they needed with two goals in 44 seconds.
Point started a give-and-go with Nikita Kucherov and finished his fifth goal of the season from the low slot at 2:26 of the third. At 3:10, Anthony Cirelli fed Geekie for a one-timer that the center buried for his first NHL tally.
