The Washington Capitals host the Tampa Bay Lightning to kick off ESPN's doubleheader on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay has struggled out of the gate this season, and my Lightning vs. Capitals predictions expect that to continue tonight.
Read on for my NHL picks for Tuesday, October 14.
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Lightning vs Capitals prediction
Lightning vs Capitals Best bet: Capitals moneyline (-115)
The Tampa Bay Lightning got their first win of the season on Monday afternoon, but they nearly blew it as Boston made it a 4-3 final after the Bolts went up 4-1. While Tampa Bay was in action, the Washington Capitals enjoyed a day off after back-to-back road wins this weekend.
Tampa Bay was a respectable 5-6-0 in the second half of a back-to-back last season, and it did save Andrei Vasilevskiy for this matchup. However, Vasilevskiy hasn't found his game yet this season, surrendering nine goals on 64 shots.
It's an extremely small sample size, but the Lightning have just 44.87% of the shot attempt share and 47.43% of the expected goals share at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick, while the Capitals have a Top-5 xGF share at 57.4%.
The Capitals had a distinct home-ice advantage last season, going 26-9-6, and the Lightning were just 18-19-4 on the road. Washington will get the win on home ice after dropping its home opener last week.
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Lightning vs Capitals same-game parlay
The Capitals are coming off a 1-0 win against the Rangers, but they're more than capable of putting goals on the board, as shown by their 4-2 win against the Islanders. I’ll stretch the moneyline to the puck line to get the odds up on this same-game parlay.
As for the Lightning, they've allowed five, five, and three goals so far this season while scoring at least three in each game themselves. We should easily see this game go over the total in D.C.
Aliaksei Protas had a coming-out party last season, and he’s keeping it going to begin this year. He has four points (two goals, two assists) and 10 shots on goal through three games. He's had a total of 17 shot attempts, including six in the lone home game, so he should hit the net a few times tonight.
Lightning vs Capitals SGP
- Capitals -1.5
- Over 5.5
- Aliaksei Protas Over 1.5 shots on goal
Lightning vs Capitals odds
- Moneyline: Lightning -105 | Capitals -115
- Puck Line: Lightning +1.5 (-260) | Capitals -1.5 (+210)
- Over/Under: Over 5.5 (-130) | Under 5.5 (+110)
Lightning vs Capitals trend
The Washington Capitals have hit the Moneyline in 58 of their last 94 games (+12.70 Units / 9% ROI). Find more NHL betting trends for Lightning vs. Capitals.
How to watch Lightning vs Capitals
| Location | Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C. |
| Date | Tuesday, October 14, 2025 |
| Puck drop | 7:00 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN |
Lightning vs Capitals latest injuries
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
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