LIGHTNING STRIKES

Visitor has won all four games in series

Tampa Bay beats the Capitals in Washington, 4-2, to tie their NHL Eastern Conference finals series at 2-2.

WASHINGTON — Jon Cooper’s Tampa Bay Lightning won Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals despite going the equivalent of more than a period without a shot on goal.

It won despite falling behind about 4½ minutes into the game.

It won despite being called for three penalties — one right after the other — late in the first period, allowing Alex Ovechkin and the rest of the Washington Capitals’ prolific power play to get all that time to operate.

And it did it, mainly, thanks to Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 36 saves and kept things close until Alex Killorn scored the tiebreaker with about 8 minutes left, lifting Tampa Bay to a 4-2 victory over Washington on Thursday night, evening the series at two games apiece.

“When you don’t have your ‘A’ game, you need your goalie to have his ‘A’ game,” Cooper said. “And he sure did.”

Now the Lightning will host Game 5 on Saturday night, with Game 6 back in Washington on Monday.

The road team has won every game in the series.

“It’s pretty bizarre,” said Steven Stamkos, who took a puck of the face during the morning skate, then went out and scored a power-play goal that gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. “We’ve got to find a way to win one at home.”

The Capitals might be thinking the same thing. They fell to 3-5 at home this postseason, while they are 7-1 in away games.

On Thursday, they even got booed late in the first period after failing to convert any of the trio of man-advantage chances.

That stretch was part of a chunk of nearly 21 full minutes of game time — the last 10:41 of the first period, followed by the initial 10:11 of the second — during which Tampa Bay never put an official shot on net.

“Our guys were gassed. That’s a lot of stress. Mental stress. The same guys are on the ice the whole time. Other guys aren’t playing,” Cooper said.

And so it was vital that Vasilevskiy played just like the Vezina Trophy finalist he is.

He was spectacular at times, including stops against Chandler Stephenson on a breakaway and Nicklas Backstrom — who returned after missing four games with an injured right hand — from the doorstep in the second period. In the third, Vasilevskiy used his left glove to swat away a try from Brett Connolly.

Following one flubbed chance, Ovechkin threw his head back and looked up, the very picture of disappointment.