WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals turned up in the heat in the third period and it proved to be too much for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.

Alex Ovechkin scored 22 seconds into overtime as the Washington Capitals rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5.

Ovechkin took a crossing pass from John Carlson and ripped a quick shot from the edge of the left circle past Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen, ending the Leafs' five-game winning streak.

Toronto led 4-2 after two periods before the Capitals scored four goals in the final 20 minutes, 22 seconds.

"We were kind of struggling in the second (period) to find the net," Ovechkin said. "But we continued to push and we (got) the result."

Washington now has won three in a row.

Carlson scored the goal that sent the game into overtime by tapping in a loose puck from in front with 6:05 left in the third period.

"We'll take a good comeback," Washington coach Barry Trotz said. "I thought when it counted, everybody stepped up."

Evgeny Kuznetsov sparked the late comeback with a goal and two assists in the third period plus overtime. He got the secondary assist on Ovechkin's winner and finished the night with four points (one goal, three assists). Kuznetsov now has 14 points in his last 14 games.

Justin Williams (one goal, two assists) helped the Capitals stay in the game, and Marcus Johansson added both of his assists in the third period.

Carlson contributed the tying goal plus his assist on the winner.

Frederik Gauthier, Nazem Kadri, Connor Brown, Leo Komarov and Mitch Marner each scored once for Toronto. High-scoring rookie Auston Matthews added two assists and now has points in seven straight games.

James van Riemsdyk also finished with two assists. In addition, the Leafs scored two power-play goals after the Capitals entered the game having killed off 29 straight penalties.

But Toronto ran into third-period trouble for a second straight game.

"That's kind of been the case most of the season," Matthews said. "We kind of get up and let our foot off the gas a little bit. It's kind of the same old story. We've got to clean it up. It's very unacceptable to go down that road."

The Leafs allowed three third-period goals Sunday in their win over Detroit and it happened again. Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov scored just 79 seconds apart early in the period, which tied the score at 4.

Toronto's Mitch Marner and Carlson traded goals after that, which sent the game into overtime.

Toronto coach Mike Babcock was less than thrilled with the way his team played.

"We weren't very good defensively; we didn't skate like we can and didn't play like we could," he said. "Getting a point on the road when you're not very good doesn't happen very often. I thought we were playing the same way the whole game -- not good enough, not competitive enough, didn't execute."

Toronto's Nikita Zaitsev was called for hooking 33 seconds into the game and Williams deflected a Orlov shot past Andersen at 1:14 for a 1-0 lead in a high-scoring first period.

The Leafs tied it on Kadri's power-play goal at 6:39 of the period. Toronto went ahead 2-1 on Brown's wrist shot with 8:16 left with Matthews getting his first assist.

Washington tied it with four minutes remaining in the period. Williams came out of the penalty box and fed T.J. Oshie, who beat Andersen with a quick shot.

Gauthier gave the Leafs the lead back with 1:54 left in the first period. Washington had allowed only 14 first-period goals, but Toronto scored three times on only eight shots -- and nearly had a few more.

Trotz replaced starter Braden Holtby in goal with Philipp Grubauer to start the second period.

Grubauer stopped the first eight shots until Komarov scored with 6:27 left in that second period. Matthews set him up with a great spinning pass from behind the cage and Komarov beat Grubauer on the power play for a 4-2 lead before the Capitals rallied.

"A little bit of resiliency (from) us," Trotz said.

NOTES: Capitals D Matt Niskanen played his 200th game with the team. He got his 200th career assist in the victory against the Devils on Dec. 31. ... D Taylor Chorney played in only six games before Washington's 2-1 victory over Ottawa on Sunday, where he scored the winning goal. But Chorney returned to the lineup for this game. ... For Toronto, C Auston Matthews was named the NHL's First Star of the Week for last week. He topped the league with six points (four goals, two assists) in three games -- all of which the Leafs won. He also was named the league's Rookie of the Month for December. ... The Maple Leafs loaned F Byron Froese to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL on Monday and assigned D Frank Corrado to the Marlies on a conditioning loan.