Lightning 3-1 Capitals — home opener in Tampa; Roy exits

Final — Tampa Bay 3, Washington 1

The Washington Capitals fell 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, Oct. 3 at Benchmark International Arena in the Lightning's home opener (AP / ESPN).

Scoreboard (ESPN)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |

| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Capitals | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |

| Lightning | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |

Locked lines (AP / ESPN)

• TB — Charle-Edouard D'Astous (2:26, 1st); Conor Geekie (late 1st); Jake Guentzel ENG (2:05 left, 3rd)
• Brandon Hagel — two assists
• WSH — Justin Sourdif redirect (2nd) off a Jakob Chychrun point shot
• Charlie Lindgren — 27 saves; Andrei Vasilevskiy — 19
• Matt Roy — lower-body injury, did not return for the third
• John Carlson — first career game vs Washington; assist on the empty-netter
• Attendance: 19,092

Washington opened the season with a win at Carolina on Friday and is 1-1-0.

Next

Wednesday — Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena (confirm tip/TV on the club board).

The Capitals page is the hub. Opener desk: at Carolina.

*Sunday morning desk, Oct. 4, 2026. Box and injury note from ESPN/AP; next from ESPN schedule.*