Capitals 4, Lightning 2: Nicklas Backstrom recorded his first career hat trick and host Washington held off a late comeback attempt to extend its point streak to five games.

Backstrom snapped his nine-game goal-scoring drought while linemates Tom Wilson and captain Alex Ovechkin each notched a pair of assists for the Capitals. Eric Fehr added an empty-net tally with 39 seconds left and Braden Holtby turned aside 26 shots – 14 in the second period – as Washington improved to 4-0-1 in its last five.

Defenseman Matt Carle set up Tyler Johnson's goal with 4:24 remaining in the third period before scoring from the left faceoff circle 1:53 later to get Tampa Bay within one. Ben Bishop made 24 saves for the Lightning, who went 0-for-4 on the power play as they began their five-game road trip.

The Lightning killed off three penalties in a scoreless first period and had a goal disallowed after Ryan Callahan was ruled to have interfered with Holtby. The Capitals extinguished Tampa Bay's two-minute, 5-on-3 power play before Backstrom found a rebound and shoveled a backhander past Bishop 10:33 into the second session to open the scoring.

Washington doubled the lead with 1:20 left in the period, when Ovechkin punched a rebound free to the right post for Backstrom to flip in. The 27-year-old Swede completed his natural hat trick at 2:17 of the third, taking a pass from Ovechkin and curling a shot around Bishop from the slot.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Backstrom recorded his first multi-goal performance since scoring twice on April 8, 2014 against St. Louis. He has collected 43 points in 38 career games against the Lightning. … Tampa Bay LW Ondrej Palat (lower body) and D Radko Gudas (stomach virus) missed the game. … Washington LW Jason Chimera, who took a penalty in overtime that led to a power-play goal in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to Columbus, was a healthy scratch.