TAMPA, Fla. - T.J Oshie had three goals and an assist, Justin Williams and John Carlson had early third-period goals, and the Washington Capitals clinched a playoff spot by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Saturday night.

Oshie scored twice, including an early power-play goal, as the Capitals took a 2-0 lead midway through the first. He completed the hat trick with an empty-netter during the final minute. Oshie has 10 goals and 19 points in 14 games against Tampa Bay.

Williams had a redirection goal 3:14 into the period before Carlson swatted a thigh-high puck home to make it 4-2 at 5:30.

Washington also got four assists from Nicklas Backstrom, and Braden Holtby stopped 26 shots.

Nikita Kucherov had two goals, and Alex Killorn had the other goal for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves.

Kucherov got Tampa Bay within a goal with 4-3 with 1:30 left, but Oshie sealed it with his third goal.

The Lightning tied it at 2 late in the first as Kucherov, on a power play set up by Oshie's high-sticking penalty, and Killorn had goals 16 seconds apart.

Killorn stopped a 16-game goal drought, while Kucherov got his 32nd goal this season and 100th overall.

Alex Ovechkin assisted on Oshie's goal and tied Florida's Jaromir Jagr for the most points against Tampa Bay with 83. He has played the Lightning 63 times.

Ovechkin, who has one goal in his last 13 games, had a couple of quality chances stopped by Vasilevskiy during the first.

NOTES: Capitals LW Andre Burakovsky returned after missing 15 games with a hand injury. ... Tampa Bay played without with centers Tyler Johnson (five games), Cedric Paquette (five games) and Vladislav Namestnikov (three games), who are all out with lower-body injuries. Center Steven Stamkos, out since right knee surgery in November, went through a full practice Friday but is not ready to play. ... Washington LW Marcus Johansson left due to illness. ... The Capitals have outscored their opponents 73-33 in the first period.

UP NEXT:

Capitals: Play the first of three straight at home against Calgary on Tuesday night.

Lightning: Complete a three-game homestand against Arizona on Tuesday night.

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Gravity wasn't going to stop Alex Killorn on his quest to earn his 17th goal of the season.

The Tampa Bay winger pushed the puck to the slot while being tripped up by a sprawled Matt Niskanen, then managed to fool Braden Holtby from the seat of his pants.

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Talk about chemistry.

Ottawa Senators center Derick Brassard completed a pretty passing play Saturday versus the Montreal Canadiens, grabbing a cross-ice feed from Kyle Turris before burying it behind Carey Price.

The tally marked Brassard's first goal in his last six outings.

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Unlike some of his U.S.-born NHL brethren, the player many consider the face of American hockey chose to sit on the proverbial fence when asked about the ongoing struggle between USA Hockey and its national women's team.

"It's tough for all parties involved," Patrick Kane told Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune before Saturday's game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"I'm sure it's tough for those women to be doing that in the first place. I'm sure they love playing, especially when the World Championships are going to be on home soil this year and they have to give that up because of some rights they believe in," Kane added.

"At the same time, I've played for USA Hockey for a long time and you feel bad for them from their perspective too. You kind of understand both sides and hopefully there's a resolution quick."

Kane has represented his country for more than a decade, beginning with the Under-18 World Championship in 2006.

The women's team is threatening to boycott the upcoming worlds unless significant progress is made in their negotiations with the governing body over what they consider to be unfair wages.

A trio of Washington Capitals defensemen who've played for the U.S. on the international stage - Kevin Shattenkirk, John Carlson, and Brooks Orpik - weighed in on the dispute earlier in the week, offering comments in support of their female counterparts' cause.

USA Hockey and the female players have exchanged salvos in the form of critical press releases, succinct tweets, and even near-dares over the last few days.

Training camp for the World Championship starts Tuesday, and the tourney opens 10 days later in Plymouth, Mich.

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Contenders aren't created with the flick of a switch.

Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly believes that's why his squad still has something to play for in the season's final weeks, although the Sabres haven't made a satisfactory amount of progress in the 2016-17 campaign.

"You don't just wake up one year and decide you're going to win a Stanley Cup or decide you're going to be a competing team for it," O'Reilly told Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. "It's tough to jump in the standings. Each year you have to make a push."

Buffalo's current pace would see the team finish one point shy of last year's 81-point effort. That season's squad didn't include the likes of free-agent addition Kyle Okposo, a reborn Evander Kane, or a more seasoned Jack Eichel, who has built on his freshman year.

The Sabres appeared to be surging in recent weeks, putting together five wins in seven games through mid-February, only to follow it up by going 3-8-2 in their past 13. Through a recent California road swing, the Sabres went 1-for-3, their lone victory coming in a shootout win over the Anaheim Ducks, and managed only two goals in three contests.

On Feb. 18, Buffalo sat just two points back of a wild-card position and was within striking distance of its first postseason berth since 2011. After collecting just seven points in March, the Sabres have all but fallen out of the mix. Now eight points outside the playoff picture, this spring will mark six straight years without postseason play in Buffalo.

Still, the Sabres can look to the positives in their final 10 games to begin next season on a high note.

"To us, it's not over yet. We've got a lot to prove that we can play and beat these teams," O'Reilly added. "We have to show we should be better, that we should be in the playoffs and that this should be our run this year. That's something we have to prove constantly."

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It's getting more difficult for Viktor Arvidsson to fly under the radar.

The Nashville Predators forward scored his 26th goal Saturday, beating Carolina Hurricanes netminder Eddie Lack from a near-impossible angle.

Shooting from behind the goal line, Arvidsson banked his tally through a sliding Lack to cut the Hurricanes' lead to 2-1.

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It's usually the other way around, but the Washington Capitals will take plays like this any time.

Alex Ovechkin - typically the receiver of such perfect passes - showed his playmaking skills Saturday night with a great dish to T.J. Oshie, who promptly tapped in his second goal of the period.

Now at 28 goals, Oshie's set a new career-high, passing his personal best of 26 set a season ago. Additionally, the 30-year-old tied Ovechkin for the team lead, a title Ovi has held every season of his career.

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Devan Dubnyk is one of the best goalies on the planet, but he's not exactly known for the flash in his game.

At 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, the Minnesota Wild 'tender gets big and makes it look easy.

Every now and then, though, Dubnyk makes one of those saves goalies dream about making at the NHL level.

New York Rangers forward Jesper Fast thought he had a shorthanded goal, but Dubnyk made arguably his finest glove save of the season to make sure Fast didn't.

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The slump is over.

Auston Matthews snapped his seven-game pointless skid Saturday night, converting on a pretty give-and-go with William Nylander to open the scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks.

It was Matthews' 32nd goal of the season, pulling him within one of Patrik Laine for the rookie scoring lead.

The 19-year-old Leafs phenom also moved ahead of teammate Mitch Marner and into sole possession of second place on the NHL's rookie points list with 56.

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The Washington Capitals haven't had to sweat much in their quest to secure the NHL's top seed, but the Columbus Blue Jackets are cranking up the thermostat down the stretch.

Cam Atkinson's overtime-winner Saturday gave the Blue Jackets their third straight victory and sixth win in their last seven games. It also drew them even with the Capitals for top spot in the Metropolitan Division, the Eastern Conference, and the league as a whole, albeit with an asterisk.

Both teams have 12 games remaining on their regular-season schedules, and both will play five at home and seven on the road, but the Capitals have an easier road to the preliminary hardware.

Washington will close out the regular season with a pair of home-road back-to-backs, but they play the lowly Arizona Coyotes twice and the league-worst Colorado Avalanche once beforehand.

The Blue Jackets close out a back-to-back Sunday, then have to play three more before the postseason begins, so six of their final 11 games will be parts of back-to-back clusters.

Columbus will face Washington twice and battle the Chicago Blackhawks and the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road before season's end, while the Capitals only have two major tests the rest of the way with a road game against the Minnesota Wild and a home date with the New York Rangers.

Still, the two division rivals are headed in opposite directions at the moment. While the Blue Jackets have reeled off seven wins in their last 10 games, the Capitals have lost five of their last six.

The chase for the league's No. 1 spot could be decided April 2, when the Capitals host the Blue Jackets in their final pre-playoff meeting. However, considering the way both clubs have been playing, it might not be decided until the final day of the regular season.

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