Chychrun lifts Capitals to OT win against Lightning

WASHINGTON -- Jakob Chychrun scored at 1:19 of overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Tom Wilson circled around the back of the net and passed from the left side to Chychrun, who scored at the back door with a shot that went off the right post and in.

“Kind of noticed my guy was snoozing a little bit and tried to go back post and he made a heck of a pass,” Chychrun said.

Washington won the face-off to start the overtime and never let Tampa Bay possess the puck.

“It’s unfortunate how this one ended,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s tough when you don’t have the puck in overtime. They got the draw, we didn’t. They got to touch it, so it was unfortunate.”

Wilson had a goal and two assists, and Dylan Strome had two assists for the Capitals (3-1-0), who have won three straight. Logan Thompson made 17 saves.

“He’s unbelievable,” Thompson said of Wilson. “I’ve said it many times, he’s the heart and soul of this team. When we don’t really have the best start, a guy like Tom is somebody we can build momentum off of, whether it’s a hit or a big goal, and he was huge tonight for us.”

Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for the Lightning (1-2-1), who won 4-3 at the Boston Bruins on Monday. Nikita Kucherov had an assist for his 997th NHL point in his 807th game.

“Listen, we gave ourselves a chance to win,” Cooper said. “And for a large portion of this game I really liked the way we played. You can make mistakes in games and make more mistakes than we did tonight and win games, and sometimes you just make a couple and it doesn’t go your way.”

Guentzel gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 7:06 of the first period with his first goal of the season. Anthony Cirelli won a face-off back to Ryan McDonagh at the left point, and McDonagh passed down to Guentzel, who scored through the five-hole on a one-timer from the right hash marks.

“Our starts have been really good this year,” Point said. “It’s just trying to maintain that the whole game.”

Aliaksei Protas tied it 1-1 at 17:38 of the second period. Connor McMichael got to a puck that Wilson sent into the zone, and as he skated behind the Lightning net he passed behind him to Protas, who scored into the open left side of the net from low in the left circle.

“I was just going in the corner and then I did a quick shoulder check and I saw ‘Pro’ coming late, so it worked out and I’m really happy he found a way to put that in,” McMichael said.

Point gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 1:23 of the third period when he tipped Victor Hedman’s shot past Thompson from the high slot with three seconds remaining on a power play.

Wilson tied it 2-2 on the power play at 4:56, redirecting Strome’s point shot.

“I think in the first period we were getting a little frustrated and we were a little hesitant that they were just going to make plays around us,” Wilson said. “In the second and the third, our focus was to take it to them and try and push them out of the game, and we played way more aggressive.”

NOTES: Lightning defenseman Max Crozier left the game in the first period because of an undisclosed injury. Cooper said he expects Crozier to miss at least the next game, at the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. … The Capitals have allowed two even-strength goals through four games. … Wilson has 400 points (181 goals, 219 assists) in 839 NHL games.