Hagel stays hot, helps Lightning edge Capitals for 7th win in past 8 games

TAMPA -- Brandon Hagel scored for the sixth time in his past seven games to help the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday.

Hagel put the Lightning ahead 3-2 at 8:42 of the third period with a shot from the high slot that beat Capitals goalie Logan Thompson on the glove side.

The forward also had an assist and has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past seven games.

"I thought we gutted it out, obviously coming back from a long travel day yesterday, three-hour time change, these are the kind of games that show what kind of team you are," Hagel said of the return following the 6-3 win at the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. "When it's a tied game it's whatever team is going to push a little bit harder and I think we've being doing a good job with that.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves, and Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (8-5-2), who have won two straight and seven of eight.

"We don't make the mistakes we made early in the year," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's as simple as that. They're a good team and they had a plan, but fortunately we were able to hang on."

Brandon Duhaime and John Carlson scored for the Capitals (7-7-1), who have lost the first two games on their four-game road trip. Thompson made 16 saves.

"Obviously I think from puck drop I think we came out hard, their first two goals were fortuitous bounces," Thompson said. "Unfortunately, the third one is a mental error ... he just handcuffed me. ... I'll take responsibility for that third one. We're in a little slump right now. We've got to keep working our way out of it. Tonight's game we were one little error from at least getting at least a point in overtime. Unfortunately, that was my error."

Duhaime gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 4:06 of the first period with a wrist shot from the side of the goal line that deflected off Vasilevskiy's pad and into the net.

"Same old song, I thought we did some good things tonight," Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. "I think the numbers will say we've got the better of the looks. It was tight. It was a hard-fought game on both sides. Did a lot of good things and just finding a way to lose games. You've got to find ways to get on the other side of these games and right now we're not."

Emil Lilleberg tied it 1-1 at 6:07 with a chip shot from the hashmarks off a pass from Guentzel. Lilleberg didn't connect with a clean shot and the puck knuckled past Thompson.

Guentzel's power-play goal at 15:09 gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. Victor Hedman took a slap shot from the point that deflected off of Guentzel's knee and into the net.

"We dug down deep in the third and did whatever it took to win that game," Guentzel said. "We're playing our system and doing whatever it takes. And we've got a world-class goaltender back there to help out. It was just a good team effort.”

Carlson tied it 2-2 at 17:08 of the second period when he took a shot inside the blue line that Vasilevskiy failed to control. The puck ended up going behind him and Erik Cernak accidentally punched the puck in the net while trying to clear it.

"We've got to find a way to score goals and come out on top," Carlson said. "It does us no good to feel like you're playing good if you don't win. It doesn't matter. We've got to bear down on certain plays ... the process is good. Special teams has got to be better. That's probably the story again.”

NOTES: Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh left the game after the first period with an undisclosed injury. No further update was given. ... Capitals forward Ethen Frank returned after missing four games with an upper-body injury and had the primary assist on Duhaime’s goal. … Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had an empty-net goal at 19:46 of the third period overturned taken away when video review initiated by the NHL Situation Room determined he was offside.