Stamkos, Lightning top Ovechkin, Capitals in OT

WASHINGTON- Steven Stamkos scored with 15 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

Stamkos entered the zone 2-on-1 with Victor Hedman, kept the puck and scored from the right circle.
"I put my head down and skated hard," Stamkos said. "I didn't know exactly how much time was left. I knew it was probably the last rush of the game, so I was going to shoot it and it was nice to see it go in."
Mikhail Sergachev scored early in the third period to tie it, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves for the Lightning (2-1-0). Tampa Bay killed four Washington power plays, including one in overtime.
"I wouldn't have predicted it going to overtime and us taking a penalty and killing it off," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "So there was a lot of just huge moments in the game for us, but from start to finish I liked a lot of what went on."
Alex Ovechkin scored his third goal of the season for the Capitals (1-0-1), and Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves.
"I thought it was a little bit quiet for him in the first period, but then in the second period he had to make some saves," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said of Vanecek. "They've got a lot of firepower, and so with that you know you're going to have to throw in a good game. I thought he did that."

Thirteen seconds after a Lightning power play ended, Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead when he got a loose puck in the offensive zone, skated into slot and scored with a wrist shot at 18:51.
"You can tell that he's had a good summer, good training camp," Laviolette said. "Everything was just a little bit off last year. Still had a good year last year, but you can see the jump, and this year, just looks like he's moving better."
Ovechkin appeared to score again 14 seconds later when his shot deflected off Vasilevskiy and across the goal line. The Lightning challenged, and after video review it was ruled Vasilevskiy gloved the puck before it completely crossed the line.
"I think today was an interesting game," Ovechkin said. "We don't give them much, they don't give us much. Overall, I think it was a good game."
Sergachev tied it 1-1 with a one-timer from the left point at 4:23 of the third period off a pass from Stamkos.

"They're tough to play against, obviously, so it took a long shot from the blue line to score on them," Sergachev said. "It doesn't happen much. I wouldn't call it lucky, but their goalie played well. They played tight defensively and we found a way to find an opening for a shot and I scored."
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov did not play the final 9:08. Cooper did not have an update after the game and said Kucherov will be evaluated when they return home.
NOTES: Stamkos (three goals, four assists) has multiple points in each of the first three games. ... Ovechkin is nine goals from passing Brett Hull (741) for fourth in NHL goals. He is first in goals (49) and points (92) against Tampa Bay and fourth in assists (Nicklas Backstrom: 48, Jaromir Jagr: 47, Daniel Alfredsson: 46). Ovechkin has 29 points in his past 23 games against Tampa Bay (20 goals, nine assists). ... Tampa Bay defenseman Jan Rutta left the game in the second period and will be evaluated Sunday. ... Washington forward Lars Eller played his 800th NHL game.