Tom Wilson’s power-play goal lifts the Capitals over the Lightning 5-4

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Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak (81) and Washington Capitals right wing Tom Wilson battle for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak (81) and Washington Capitals right wing Tom Wilson battle for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tom Wilson scored a power-play goal with 3:26 left in regulation to lift the Washington Capitals to a 5-4 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night.

With Anthony Cirelli in the box for a high-sticking, double-minor penalty with 4:03 left, Wilson tipped a Jakob Chychrun shot for the winning goal.

Aliaksei Protas scored shorthanded while Andrew Mangiapane, Dylan Strome and John Carlson scored for Washington, which has won six straight on the road. Charlie Lindgren finished with 24 saves.

Brayden Point registered his fifth career hat trick for Tampa Bay while Michael Eyssimont also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots.

Tampa Bay had leads of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3, with Point’s hat trick goal giving Tampa Bay the lead after Lindgren tried to play the puck behind him but fired it into his own net at 7:25 of the third period. But Carlson pulled the Capitals even again with 9:30 left.

Takeaways

Capitals: Washington has two power-play goals in four games since Alex Ovechkin was injured.

Lightning: Head coach Jon Cooper coached his 900th career regular season game to become just the eighth coach in league history to do so with one franchise.

Key moment

After Lindgren’s mishap on the own goal put Tampa Bay in front, the Capitals did not get rattled and answered three minutes later with Carlson’s third goal of the season.

Key stat

Point scored three goals on Wednesday, including his league-leading eighth power-play goal. Point has a goal in 71% of the games he’s played in this season, 12 of 17 games.

Up next

Washington returns home to host the New York Islanders on Friday while the Lightning are at Nashville on Friday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl