But after Washington failed to convert on a power play resulting from Ryan Callahan's roughing penalty at 13:20, Brayden Point scored from the left circle at 16:03 to increase Tampa Bay's lead to 4-1.
"They converted on the chances they had. We didn't," center Evgeny Kuznetsov said. "We had so many good looks. We just didn't score. The power play made everything. They scored. We didn't, and that's on us. Not good enough on the power play."
The Capitals outshot the Lightning 38-23, with Kuznetsov getting 12 shots on goal and scoring a 6-on-5 goal with 3:02 remaining in the third period that made it 4-2. Ovechkin had nine shots on goal and 18 shot attempts.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, playing better than he did in the first two games, was a contributing factor, but the Capitals also didn't help themselves.
In the two games in Tampa, the Capitals did a good job of diffusing the Lightning forecheck by moving the puck cleanly and quickly out of their defensive zone. The Lightning pressured them into making some sloppy passes in the defensive zone Tuesday and their zone exits weren't as clean.
That resulted in some sustained shifts in the Washington end.
"We didn't play as fast as we did the first couple of games and I think the reason for that is we kind of forced pucks through the middle," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "That was partly on us, but I think they forced us into some uncomfortable situations, and that's something we want to clean up."