WASHINGTON – The road to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s first playoff series victory went through St. Louis.

Make that Martin St. Louis, who scored his fifth goal of the series 4:03 in the third overtime Sunday to give the Lightning a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.

The Lightning, after dropping the first two games at home, won four straight to win the best-of-seven series and advance in the playoffs for the first time in their 11-year history. Tampa Bay’s only previous postseason appearance came in 1996, when it lost 4-2 to Philadelphia. The third-seeded Lightning will play No. 2 New Jersey in the second round.

Canucks 4, Blues 3

ST. LOUIS – The Vancouver Canucks didn’t going away quietly. Now they’re going home for Game 7.

Markus Naslund had a goal and two assists as the Canucks staved off elimination for the second straight game, beating the St. Louis Blues 4-3 to force a decisive Game 7 in the first-round playoff series. Whoever wins Tuesday’s game in Vancouver will play the winner of the series between Colorado and Minnesota.

Mattias Ohlund had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, who scored two goals in each of the first two periods. Vancouver scored twice on the power play in the second period.

as the Blues repeatedly hurt themselves with ill-advised penalties.

Nikolai Khabibulin made 60 saves for the Lightning. Kolzig had 44.

Tampa Bay’s Dave Andreychuk sent the game to overtime with a power-play goal with 4:06 remaining in regulation. Peter Bondra scored during a second-period power play for the Capitals.

Andreychuk tied it with a one-timer as the puck came to him on a fortuitous deflection off the skate of Capitals defenseman Ken Klee.

The goal was Tampa Bay’s first since Game 2 not scored by a member of the Lecavalier-St. Louis-Vaclav Prospal line. That trio was shut down in this game until St. Louis’ game-winner.

Instead of his checking line, Washington coach Bruce Cassidy put his top line – led by Jaromir Jagr – against the Lecavalier line, which accounted for nine straight Tampa Bay goals and was plus-18 the last three games.

With Lecavalier’s line sufficiently occupied – and with no other Lightning line threatening to score – Tampa Bay managed 21 shots to Washington’s 36 in regulation.

A roughing call after the whistle on Ben Clymer – the type of penalty the Lightning avoided for the better part of three games – led to Bondra’s fourth goal of the series.

That score ended an 0-for-13 power-play slump by the Capitals. It also gave Washington its first lead since the end of Game 2.

The Capitals had the better of the scoreless first period, getting three power plays and outshooting the Lightning 13-5.

Play deteriorated into mini-melees until the referees finally had enough. They sent two players from each team to the box at the same time late in the second period.

The first overtime included 25 shots, two penalties and some big chances for both teams.

Lecavalier had three point-blank shots at Kolzig in one sequence. Two were saved; one hit the post. Kolzig also stopped Jassen Cullimore on the next rebound.

Klee was penalized for holding Prospal as both wrestled on the ice. Capitals defenseman Brendan Witt got away with a trip of St. Louis during the power play.

Cory Sarich’s holding penalty in the final minute gave the Capitals a power play that extended it into the second overtime, but Washington got no shots during the advantage.

Khabibulin had an excellent second overtime, stopping several point-blank shots, including Michael Nylander’s breakaway in the final minute.

Notes: The Capitals failed to sell out any of their three home games in the series. Playing on a sunny Easter, the announced attendance was 15,269 – and that appeared very generous given the number of empty seats. … Washington LW Kip Miller, whose turnover led to the winning goal in Game 4, was a healthy scratch. … Four of Tampa Bay’s six playoff victories were in overtime. … The team that scored first won every game in the series except this one.

AP-ES-04-20-03 1955EDT