Defenseman Jakob Chychrun scored 1:19 into overtime to propel the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
Tom Wilson wired a sharp cross feed that flew off the heel of Chychrun’s stick to the right doorstep to end the game.
Wilson scored his team’s first power play goal of the season and added two assists.
Aliaksei Protas also scored, Dylan Strome had two assists and Logan Thompson made 17 saves to propel the Capitals to their third straight victory.
Tampa Bay’s Jake Guentzel scored a goal in the first period and Brayden Point added a power play goal in the third. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots for the Lightning.
Tampa Bay opened the scoring at 7:06 of the first period.
Anthony Cirelli won an offensive zone faceoff in the left circle and defenseman Ryan McDonagh sent a diagonal pass to Guentzel, who clocked a one-timer past Thompson. The goal was Guentzel’s first of the season after recording a career-high 41 in 2024-25.
Washington tried to react at the end of the period, but Vasilevsky made a glove save on a partial escape from Justin Sourdif.
Both teams found iron at the start of the second period. Capitals forward Ryan Leonard hit the post with a shot from the right circle, while Brandon Hagel jumped off the Lightning bench and fired a shot that hit the iron at the other end.
Connor McMichael’s buzzer-beater from behind the net caught Vasilevskiy looking the wrong way, allowing Protas to shoot into an open net to increase his team-best totals of goals (three) and points (five).
Tampa Bay capitalized on its power play after Washington superstar captain Alex Ovechkin was whistled for a slashing penalty. Defender Victor Hedman’s pass from the high slot was deflected by Point for his second goal of the season.
Wilson’s deflection of Strome’s shot more than 2 1/2 minutes later tied the game at 2-2.
–Field level media
