NHL ROUNDUP: Capitals thrive on power play, rally past Lightning

The Capitals have won four straight games overall and seven in a row at home. Oshie, the Capitals scored five unanswered goals to erase the Lightning’s 3-0 lead at the Verizon Center on Friday night.

Ovechkin got his first just a few minutes after Holtby’s exit on a power play.

The 26-year-old netminder has earned at least one point in each of the last 13 games (12-0-1) – including two wins over the Lightning – while allowing 23 goals during that span. The Capitals are 10-1-1 in their last 12 contests, including a 4-2 win over the Lightning at home on November 27 and a 2-1 triumph in Tampa Bay on Saturday.TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Tampa Bay), CSN-DC (Washington)ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (16-13-3): In addition to Johnson and Palat, forwards Jonathan Drouin (lower body), Cedric Paquette (upper body) and Joel Vermin (hand) likely are out while Erik Condra (lower body) is questionable.

Marcus Johnasson gave the Capitals the 4-3 after a nifty passing attack that started with a turn over created by Ovechkin, who passed the puck to Oshie, who made a really incredible and selfless pass in front of Bishop to Johansson who absolutely buried a bullet past Bishop to complete the rally.

Tampa Bay got on the scoreboard on its first shot when Killorn scored 8:18 into the game.

In the third period, it was all about the Capitals.

After falling behind by three goals, the Washington Capitals needed some help. Both the Power Play and the Penalty Kill have continued to struggle this season, and if the Tampa Bay Lightning can’t seem to get a handle on it, they may very well play themselves right out of contention for a spot in the post season. Washington played more physical in the final 20 minutes and took command after trailing 3-1 heading into the final period.

“Their power play obviously picked us apart pretty good tonight”, Stamkos said.

Steven Stamkos scored for his first goal in 11 games.

Washington right winger T.J. Oshie, who ended the night with an empty-netter, also had an unassisted goal, which pulled Washington to within 3-2 early in the third before Ovechkin tied it with 9:58 left. For the most part, I think as a group we’re a little bit bigger than they are and we felt they were winning a lot of puck battles on us, and that was leading to their offensive time, their offensive zone time and turnovers from us. “We talked about turning that around”.

Reilly Smith added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds left.

Pageau started and finished the play that gave the Senators a 2-1 lead 8:22 into the third period. The Bruins are 11-2-2 on the road this season.

“I was exhausted of our team leaving him out to dry”, Trotz said. “I told him just make sure you’re within the rules… and player safety is paramount.”… He also played with the Oilers and Blue Jackets before coming to the Capitals in 2009-10….