Washington Capitals nearly blow four-goal lead in 6-5 win over Lightning

The Washington Capitals came out on top of the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-5 overtime thriller at the Verizon Center.

The Capitals blew a four-goal lead but Mike Green scored in the extra period to give them two vital points in their bid to win the Eastern Conference's tight Southeast Division.

They appeared to be in cruise control in the first period, moving 3-0 clear on goals from Troy Brouwer, Jack Hillen and Alex Ovechkin, who continued his excellent run of scoring form.

Jason Chimera made it 4-0 early in the second and Eric Fehr responded quickly to make it 5-1 after Richard Panik had pulled a goal back for the visiting Lightning.

But the Capitals then went to sleep with Martin St Louis ending the second period by pulling Tampa Bay back within three, and they dominated the final 20 minutes with Panik and St Louis grabbing their second goals of the night before Teddy Purcell levelled the scores at 5-5 three minutes from time.

However they were made to pay in overtime when Vincent Lecavalier was sent to the penalty box for slashing Marcus Johansson, and Green beat reserve goalie Mathieu Garon to extend Washington's lead over the Winnipeg Jets to four points.

Henrik Lundqvist was in superb form for the New York Rangers, making 29 saves to shutout the Islanders in a 1-0 win that came thanks to Dan Girardi's overtime goal.

Jhonas Enroth also proved unbeatable in making 29 saves for the Buffalo Sabres, similarly 1-0 winners over Philadelphia with defenseman Christian Ehrhoff scoring the only goal.

The Los Angeles Kings won a California battle with the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 thanks to goals from Drew Doughty and Mike Richards and Max Reinhart scored his first NHL goal as the Calgary Flames saw off the Oilers 4-1 in Edmonton.