Washington: Alex Killorn scored the go-ahead goal halfway through the third period and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 36 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 4-2 to level the Eastern Conference finals at 2-2.

Killorn scored at 11.57 of the third period, taking a pass from teammate Ondrej Palat and then slipping a backhand through the legs of Washington goaltender Braden Holtby to break the 2-2 tie. The goal snapped a 10-game scoring drought for Killorn.

“Palat made a great play to me at the front of the net and I put it on my backhand and caught him five hole,” said Killorn, who snapped a 10 game scoreless drought.

Tampa Bay regained home ice advantage in the series as the victory at Washington’s Capital One Arena followed a familiar pattern. The road team has now won all four games in the series.

The Lightning will try to break that mold when they host game five on Saturday.

Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli also scored for the Lightning, who had bounced back in game three, winning 4-2. Stamkos now has six goals and 10 points in a seven-game streak.

Vasilevskiy again made 36 saves — for the second consecutive game — showing that reports of the Lightning’s demise were premature.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, with his 10th of the postseason, and Dmitry Orlov scored goals for Washington who dropped to 3-5 on home ice in the playoffs.

Wins are so hard to come by for the Capitals in their own building that Kuznetsov said after game two that he “feels bad for the fans” and “dreams” of playing on the road.

One piece of good news for Washington on Thursday was the return of forward Nicklas Backstrom, who missed the last four games with a hand injury.

Backstrom had 21 goals and 50 assists in the regular season and has three goals and 10 assists in 11 playoff games. On Thursday he finished with no points and four shots on goal.

Washington had almost twice as many shots, outgunning the Lightning 38-20 overall. They peppered Vasilevskiy with 29 shots in the first two periods but couldn’t muster a decent shot in the final sequence with their net empty. They also failed to score on four powerplay opportunities.

— AFP