Ovechkin celebrated the end of his four-game point drought by racing over to leap into the boards.
Washington trailed 2-1 late in the third period, before Marcus Johansson forced overtime by scoring with 3:58 left. Ovechkin's goal ruined the first NHL start by Lightning goalie Dustin Tokarski, who was recalled from Norfolk of the AHL on Wednesday.
Teddy Purcell helped the Lightning take the lead by extending his point streak to 11 games with a goal and an assist on power plays. He has seven goals and 15 assists during that run.
In Newark, Ilya Kovalchuk scored three goals to record his second hat trick in just over three weeks to lead New Jersey over the New York Islanders.
Patrik Elias and David Clarkson also scored and Martin Brodeur made 29 saves as the Devils earned their 38th win, matching last season's total when they missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996.
Kovalchuk's linemates, Adam Henrique and Zach Parise, each had two assists, with Parise scoring his 400th NHL point.
Defenseman Andy MacDonald scored for the Islanders, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Evgeni Nabokov stopped 15 shots and lost for the sixth time in 16 games (10-5-1).
The streaky Kovalchuk has a team-high 29 goals, including four in two games after going nine without one.
In Boston, David Krejci scored for the fifth time in five games and Boston won consecutive games for the first time in almost two months by beating Buffalo.
Defenseman Johnny Boychuk broke a 1-1 tie at 12:56 of the third period, and Krejci scored 2:58 later to make it 3-1.
The Bruins, who won at Toronto Tuesday night, last won two in a row on Jan. 10 and 12.
The loss was the second in three games for the Sabres, who are battling for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Buffalo's Jason Pominville scored in the first period and Boston's Gregory Campbell tied it in the second.
Tim Thomas made 19 saves for Boston.
In Philadelphia, Ilya Bryzgalov made 28 saves to record his second shutout in three games and Philadelphia beat Florida for its fourth straight win.
Brayden Schenn, Matt Read, Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr and Eric Wellwood scored for the Flyers.
Bryzgalov has finally played like the goalie the Flyers expected when they gave him a $51 million, nine-year contract. After struggling much of the season, he's 7-2 with a 2.10 goals-against average while making 10 straight starts.
The Flyers moved within two points of fourth-place Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference.
Bryzgalov earned his fourth shutout of the season and the 27th of his career.
In Ottawa, Ben Bishop made 25 saves in his home debut with the Senators, and Ottawa beat the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers.
Nick Foligno had the winning goal, and Zack Smith, Kyle Turris and Jason Spezza, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Senators (36-25-8).
The Rangers (42-17-7) grabbed a 1-0 lead on Ryan Callahan's first-period goal, but dropped to 30-2-3 in games in which they scored first. New York, which lost 4-1 at New Jersey on Tuesday, hadn't lost two straight in regulation since Dec. 13 and 15.
Martin Biron made 18 saves for New York, which began a stretch of three games in four days.
In Columbus, Ohio, Mark Letestu scored twice and Jack Johnson had a goal against his former teammates to lead Columbus to its fourth straight win Thursday night, a victory that ended Los Angeles' three-game winning streak.
It was the second two-goal game of Letestu's NHL career. He hadn't scored in 16 games.
Jack Johnson also had a goal in his first game since being traded by the Kings. Steve Mason had 16 saves before he left with an injury. Curtis Sanford made 13 saves in relief. Vinny Prospal added two assists.
Anze Kopitar scored a short-handed goal for the Kings.
The Blue Jackets hadn't won four in a row since Nov. 17-22, 2010 - a span of 131 games.
In St. Louis, Patrik Berglund scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves for his career-high seventh straight win to lead St. Louis over Anaheim.
St. Louis improved to an NHL-best 28-4-4 at home with its seventh win in eight games. David Backes scored twice for St. Louis, 20-1-3 in its last 24 home games.
The Blues have a league-leading 93 points, marking the first time they have led in points this late in the season since March 9, 2000.
Halak (23-10-5) won six in a row from Jan. 3-21. He lost six of his first seven starts.
Corey Perry scored for Anaheim, which has lost four of six.
Berglund ended a 14-game drought with his 14th goal of the season.
In Nashville, Sergei Kostitsyn scored at 19:28 of the second period, and Nashville held off Colorado.
The Predators, coming off their first home loss in regulation since Jan. 5, improved to 18-3-2 in their last 23 home games. Pekka Rinne stopped 15 shots in his NHL-best 37th win.
Mike Fisher and Brandon Yip scored for Nashville, which won its sixth straight at home over Colorado. Martin Erat added an empty-net goal.
Paul Stastny and Jamie McGinn each had a goal and an assist for Colorado. The Avalanche had a two-game winning streak snapped after they matched a season high with seven goals in a 7-1 win Tuesday against Minnesota. Semyon Varlamov had posted shutout wins in his last two road games.
In Dallas, Tomas Vincour scored in the final minute of regulation, and then added the lone goal of the shootout in the fifth round to give surging Dallas a victory over San Jose.
Kari Lehtonen made 45 saves through overtime and then was perfect in the shootout. He stopped Logan Couture in the final round to seal the win for Dallas.
Vincour gave the Stars the edge in the tiebreaker when he flipped a backhander past Antti Niemi. Pacific Division-leading Dallas won its fourth straight and improved to 79 points, four ahead of San Jose.
Joe Pavelski put the Sharks in front 3-2 when he pushed a rebound past Lehtonen with 3:32 left in regulation.
Niemi made 32 saves for the Sharks, 2-7-3 in their last 12 games overall and 1-5-2 in their last eight on the road. Dallas returned from a 3-0 road trip and is 8-0-1 in its last nine.
Patrick Marleau scored his 27th goal of the season 25 seconds into the third period to put the Sharks in front 2-1. But Jamie Benn's 20th drew Dallas even at 2 at 6:42.
In Glendale, Arizona, Dany Heatley scored in the fifth round of the shootout to lift Minnesota over Phoenix.
After Wild goalie Matt Hackett stopped Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Heatley put a backhand past Jason LaBarbera for the win. LaBarbera made 22 saves.
Hackett took over for Josh Harding, who left with an undisclosed lower body injury in the second period.
Kyle Brodziak and Steven Kampfer scored first-period goals for the Wild.
Down 2-0 in the third, Raffi Torres got the Coyotes on the board when he scored at 1:40. Just 1:05 later, Lauri Korpikoski converted a pass from Antoine Vermette to tie it.
The Wild won for the first time in six games. Phoenix has lost five straight.
In Edmonton, Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist, and P.K. Subban added a goal and two assists in Montreal's win over Edmonton.
Tomas Kaberle and Lars Eller also scored for Montreal (26-32-10), which won for the second time in nine games. The Canadiens prevented the Oilers (26-35-6) from catching them for 28th place in the 30-team NHL standings.
Shawn Horcoff, Linus Omark and Taylor Hall had goals for the Oilers, who have lost four of five.
In Vancouver, British Columbia, Sammy Pahlsson scored his first goal with Vancouver in a win over Winnipeg.
Pahlsson took Kevin Bieksa's drop pass inside the blue line and drilled a shot over the glove of goalie Ondrej Pavelec. Ryan Kesler and Alex Edler also scored for the Canucks.
Kyle Wellwood and Blake Wheeler scored for the Jets.
The Canucks (42-18-8) rallied for the win after losing twice in a row at home - only the second time this season the Northwest Division leaders have lost two straight in regulation.
Vancouver is one point behind the Western Conference-leading St. Louis Blues in its bid to repeat as Presidents' Trophy winners.
The Jets (32-28-8) lost in regulation for the second time in 10 games.
