It was all Brandon Hagel all night in Washington as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Washington Capitols 5-3 at Capitol One Arena. ON a night where the Lightning scored five goals, Hagel had two of the goals and two assists. It was a big night for the 27-year old left winger from Sakatoon, Saskatchewan, CAN.
The Lightning had a sloppy first minute of play before getting things together to play Lightning Hockey. Justin Sourdif scored the game’s first goal for Washington on a wrist shot assisted by Tom Wilson and Martin Fehervary.
But on a shorthanded ice just under three minutes in, Hagel got the Lightning on the board with a snap shot assisted by Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak. They were followed three minutes later by a Oliver Bjorkstrand power play snap shot goal that was assisted by Nikita Kucherov and Darren Raddysh to put the Lightning on top 2-1, their first lead of the day.
Hagel kept the excitement going in the first period with a slap shot goal 11:36 into the period. He was assisted by Kucherov and J.J. Moser. Then fresh off an assist, it was Kucherov with Tampa’s fourth goal Saturday night. He slapped one through the net on assists from Hagel and Charle Edourd D'Astous.
Down 4-1 after one period, the Capitols got on the board a quarter of the way through the second period on an unassisted goal by Jakob Chychrun.
The Capitols held the Lightning scoreless in the second period and only allowed them four shots on goal. But the Lightning still led it 4-2 after two periods.
The Capitols started making things even more interesting in the third period. Ethen Frank scored Washington’s third goal of the game. He was assisted by Sonny Milano and Chychrun.
But Anthony Cirelli gave the Lightning some security. He scored Tampa’s fifth and final goal of the night, his eighth goal of the year. He was assisted by Hagel and Jake Guentzel, who both now have 10 assists on the year as Hagel capped out a huge four point night.
The Lightning went on to defeat the Capitols 5-3 for a big win on the road.
Tampa Bay will return to action and to Benchmark International Arena on Monday, November 24 for a 7:00PM EST matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.