TAMPA, Fla. — Jason Garrison scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Saturday night.
Tampa Bay, which also got goals from Ryan Callahan, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, has won five of six. Tyler Johnson had two assists, giving him 13 over his last nine games.
Marcus Johansson, Eric Fehr and Troy Brouwer scored for the Capitals, who have lost four of five. Alex Ovechkin had an assist to snap a five-game point drought, the longest of his career.
Steven Stamkos won a faceoff, sending the puck back to Garrison, who gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead 2:27 into the third.
After Palat scored at 9:29 of the second, Tampa Bay went up 3-2 when Kucherov tipped Eric Brewer’s shot past Braden Holtby just 2:43 later.
Brouwer pulled the Capitals even at 3 during a power play with 58.4 seconds remaining in the second.
Right after Kucherov hit the post, Fehr put the Capitals up 2-1 from just above the goal line at 2:11 of the second.
Callahan, back in the lineup after missing five games due to a lower-body injury, opened the scoring with a nifty redirection between his legs off Brian Boyle’s pass 6:06 into the game.
Less than a minute after Holtby made in-close saves on Callahan and Valtteri Filppula during a Tampa Bay power play, Johansson tied it at 1 with 7:01 left in the first on a rebound after Ben Bishop stopped a shot by a tripped-up Ovechkin.
NOTES: Stamkos (218) and Ovechkin (208) top the NHL in goals since the start of the 2009-10 season. … Ovechkin has gone six games without a goal. … Ovechkin has 37 assists and 72 points in 55 games against Tampa Bay. … Tampa Bay C Alex Killorn left in the second with an upper-body injury. … Washington C Brooks Laich (left shoulder) missed his fifth straight game. … Lightning D Andrej Sustr (right hand), hurt in Thursday’s game against Philadelphia, didn’t play. He was seen flexing the hand at times during the morning skate. … Capitals LW Aaron Volpatti (neck) continues practicing with the team.
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