WASHINGTON -- Left winger Jason Chimera joined the Washington power-play unit earlier this month and his impact has been noticeable.

Chimera had one of Washington's three power-play goals and assisted on one as the Capitals defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Friday night.

The 14-year veteran has three goals and two assists on the Washington’s fifth-ranked power play in the past eight games.

"He has speed entering the zone. He's always dangerous," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "He's a little more of presence in front of the net.

"Since he's gone on the power play, the power play's been quite effective."

Left winger Alex Ovechkin and right winger T.J. Oshie also had power-play goals for Washington, which opened a 3-0 lead with two goals in the final two minutes of the second period.

"You get to the (end of) the (second) period 1-0 and who knows what happens," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "To give up those two goals in the last couple of minutes, it was a big hill for us to climb after that."

Center Evgeny Kuznetsov and defenseman John Carlson each had two assists for the Capitals (16-5-1), who have won four straight to pull within one point of the first-place New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division.

Trailing 4-0, the Lightning got third-period goals from center Brian Boyle and defenseman Victor Hedman to halve the deficit with 7:15 left.

Washington was 3 of 4 with the man advantage and Tampa Bay was 0 of 1 before getting a second power-play chance with 12 seconds left in the game.

"Obviously, you give up three power-play goals that's a tough one to overcome," Lightning center Steven Stamkos said. "It's not like we dominated five-on-five or anything. We had some good shifts in the third (period), but again, you can’t play 15, 20 minutes in a game and expect to win."

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots and Washington's Braden Holtby made 32 saves.

The Lightning (11-10-3) saw their three-game winning streak end. They've have lost 8 of 9 in Washington.

Washington took a season-high 19 shots in the first period, thanks in part to two Tampa Bay penalties.

"We established a pretty good forecheck," Trotz said. "We really didn't give them any momentum ... we drew penalties because of our pressure on them."

The Lightning hadn't allowed a power-play goal in four games, but that streak ended at 7:09.

Chimera, behind the end line, fed a pass across the slot to Ovechkin in the left circle, and Ovechkin wristed a shot into the top corner for his 12th goal of the season.

The second period was scoreless until Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn went off for delay of game with 3:15 left.

With just seconds remaining in the power play, center Evgeny Kuznetsov sent a slap pass to Chimera in the slot and he redirected it home for his sixth goal of the season.

"It's fun when you're playing with Kuzy," Chimera said. "He makes things a little easy. It's just one of those things where, he's a special kid, special player. He's making me look good, that's for sure."

Washington quickly made it 3-0 with 42 seconds left in the period when Carlson's centering pass deflected off left winger Marcus Johansson's skate past Vasilevskiy.

"We travel here on Thanksgiving. We don't have Thanksgiving with our families," Boyle said. "We lay an egg here on Friday. It's kind of a wasted opportunity, so it's really disappointing."

Tampa Bay center Tyler Johnson, who returned to action Wednesday after missing three games with an upper body injury, played 48 seconds in the first period and did not return.

NOTES: Washington's Barry Trotz coached his 1,300th NHL game. ... Capitals D John Carlson played in his 400th consecutive game. ... Tampa Bay remains without C Cedric Paquette (out five games, upper body) and LW Jonathan Drouin (five games, undisclosed). ... Lightning D Luke Witkowski was a healthy scratch ... Capitals D Brooks Orpik (lower body) missed his eighth game. ... Washington RW Stanislav Galiev and C Chris Brown were healthy scratches. ... The Lightning penalty kill unit began play 44 of 49 (89.8 percent) in its last 18 games. ... Washington begins a three-game road trip in Canada on Saturday night at Toronto.