Tampa Bay Lightning vs Washington Capitals Prediction - 10/14/2025
Updated July 9, 2026
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals will face off in the NHL on Tuesday night. This is the second night of a back-to-back for the Lightning, who will look for their second win in as many nights. They take on a Capitals team that is aiming for its first home win of the 2025-26 season. Here, I break down this matchup and give you my Lightning vs Capitals prediction for this contest in the Eastern Conference.
The Lightning opened their season with an 0–2 start. But they secured a 4–3 road win over Boston last night, where Anthony Cirelli scored two first-period goals and Jonas Johansson made 30 saves. Tampa Bay’s defense has given up 13 goals in three games and playing on tired legs could hurt their defense here.
The Capitals are 2–1 and have earned two straight victories. Their most recent triumph was a 1–0 shutout win over the New York Rangers, powered by Charlie Lindgren’s 35 saves. The Caps have allowed just two goals combined over their last two games and they will try to get the job done with their defense again.
Andrei Vasilevskiy will likely start this game for the Lightning. He has struggled early in the season with a 4.67 GAA and he will try to turn things around starting with this contest. Lindgren and Logan Thompson have both performed well early this season for the Capitals. Lindgren’s performance against the Rangers was dominant and the Caps will be confident no matter who is in net for this game.
Cirelli remains a tone-setter for Tampa Bay and he enters with two goals on six shots. Jake Guentzel and Gage Goncalves also contributed assists in that Boston win. Washington's Aliaksei Protas has started hot with two goals and an assist in three games. Jakob Chychrun has already racked up three assists. And Alexander Ovechkin is generating chances and remains a threat at all times for the Caps.
Player | Prop |
|---|---|
Alex Ovechkin | Over 0.5 Goals |
Brayden Point | Over 0.5 Points |
Score Projection: Tampa Bay 2 – Washington 4
Win Probability: Tampa Bay 42%, Washington 58%
The Capitals should have the advantage going into this game. Tampa Bay is at a rest disadvantage, having to play for the second night in a row. That should help the Caps to get their third straight win as they should continue their strong start to the season by getting the win here.
Jay Sanin is the GM and Head of Sports at ATS.io. He has been writing about sports gambling since 2013, handicapping tens of thousands of sporting events. He plays sides and totals aggressively across most sports and is more selective in player prop markets. He does his own modeling across most sports, and his family is jealous of how much time he spends on his precious spreadsheets.
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