Capitals fall 3-1 in Tampa as Guentzel runs the show

The Capitals came out of Tampa with nothing. A 3-1 loss to the Lightning at Benchmark International Arena dropped Washington to 1-1-0, matching Tampa's record but leaving the Caps with little to feel good about after the final horn.

Tampa Bay did most of its damage early. Charle-Edouard D'Astous opened the scoring in the first period with a wrist shot, assisted by Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel. Then it happened again. Conor Geekie made it 2-0 on another wrist shot, with Hagel and Guentzel collecting their second helpers of the night. Two goals. Same two assists. The Capitals were chasing from there.

Washington finally got on the board in the second. Justin Sourdif tipped one in, with Jakob Chychrun and Boone Jenner setting him up. It cut the deficit to 2-1 and gave the Caps something to build on heading to the third.

They didn't build on it.

Guentzel buried a wrist shot in the third period to put the game away, this time with Nikita Kucherov and John Carlson picking up the assists. That made it 3-1 and that's where it stayed. Guentzel finished the night with a goal and two assists, three points total. He was the best player on the ice and it wasn't especially close.

For Washington, Sourdif's tip-in was the only goal. Jenner had the lone assist in the scoring column for the Caps. Outside of that second-period push, the offense had no real answer for what Tampa was doing.

Carlson ended the night with an assist, though it came on Guentzel's insurance goal.