Carlson helps Capitals top Lightning, gain in wild card

WASHINGTON -- John Carlson scored two power-play goals and had two assists in the Washington Capitals' 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist, giving him 1,401 NHL points (773 goals, 628 assists) in 1,265 games for the Capitals (38-22-10), who had lost their previous two games by a combined score of 11-2. Evgeny Kuznetsov had two assists and Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves.
"[We] definitely played a good game," Kuznetsov said. "That was a huge two points for us. We played 'D' pretty good sometimes, sometimes not, but at the end of the day we play for each other a lot today, so that was a fun game to watch and play."
Washington holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Capitals trail the Lightning and the Boston Bruins, who are tied for the first wild card and for third in the Atlantic Division, by seven points. The Capitals win eliminated the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres from playoff contention.

Nikita Kucherov, Nicholas Paul and Ross Colton scored for the Lightning (43-20-7), who have lost three in a row (0-2-1). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.
"It feels like every mistake right now is kind of ending up in the back of our net, so it's tough not to get frustrated," Lightning forward Steven Stamkos said. "We just have to continue to work our way through it. We have a lot of veteran leadership on this team that we know we can work our way out of it."
With the goalie pulled for an extra attacker during a power play, Colton scored for the Lightning to make it 4-3 at 17:10 on a wrist shot from the right circle.
"We didn't quit. We fought till the end," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "When it's not quite going your way, maybe it's one special team lets you down one game and doesn't the next but then the other one does, or your 5-on-5 play. That's part of it, right? It's the whole game coming together. Right now, we're just missing in some areas."
Martin Fehervary gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 5:10 of the first period, scoring from the left circle off a pass from Carlson in the slot.
"We didn't have to look too far back to see what happens when we don't start out well," Carlson said. "We were behind in a lot of our games in the past. [It's] something we addressed and wanted to get out to a really good start."

Carlson made it 2-0 at 7:38 on a slap shot from the point with 10 second remaining on a power play.
"The power play, it's been good," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's been on point for a while, but they moved it well. John Carlson had a massive game. He was noticeable not only in the offensive zone, because that's where it's easy to notice him, but he was really good in the defensive zone."
Kucherov pulled the Lightning within 2-1 at 8:41, when received a pass from Victor Hedman and scored from the slot against Samsonov, who had lost his stick.
Ovechkin made it 3-1 at 15:10 when his pass attempt deflected off a Lightning player and he shot the loose puck over Vasilevskiy's left shoulder.

Paul made it 3-2 at 16:31 when he scored an unassisted goal on a wrist shot from the high slot.
The Capitals appeared make it 4-2 when Carlson knocked in a loose puck at 19:54, but Tampa Bay successfully challenged for offside.
Carlson did make it 4-2 with his second power-play goal of the game at 16:35 of the second period, scoring from the slot off a pass from T.J. Oshie.
"We couldn't get clears, so that first one they spent however long in our zone and eventually buried one," Cooper said of the penalty kill. "And the second one, one of our 'D' took a shot, so he was down and we probably collapsed a little bit too low and clearly Carlson was hot tonight. Everything he was shooting, either he was scoring it or somebody was."
NOTES: Ovechkin is eight points from Dale Hawerchuk for 20th in NHL history. … Kucherov has goals in three straight games and extended his season-best point streak to six games (three goals, eight assists). … Stamkos extended his point streak to eight games (five goals, eight assists). … Ovechkin has 11 goals in his past 15 games. … Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom had his 743rd NHL assist, passing Denis Potvin for the 45th in NHL history. … Kuznetsov has points in 14 of his past 15 games (seven goals, 11 assists).