LANDOVER, Maryland -- The Washington Capitals were sitting pretty. One point away from inching into sixth place in the Eastern Conference.


But little went right for them Tuesday night. Goalie Don Beaupr? gave up four goals and the Capitals, who have had to scratch and claw for nearly every goal this season, had two disallowed and could not come up with enough that counted to pull this one out.


The Tampa Bay Lightning walked out with a 4-3 victory, much to the disappointment of the 10,271 fans who braved the snow.


Tampa had been embarrassed here a month ago, 6-3, as Washington's Peter Bondra tied the Capitals' all-time single-game scoring record with five goals, four of them in National Hockey League-record time.


This time, Tampa goalie Daren Puppa played an excellent game, making 37 saves. But he was not always in position and the Capitals had their chances.


Kevin Hatcher looked at a near open net and missed. Peter Bondra finally put the puck in the net with 8:26 left, seemingly closing the margin to 4-3. But the referees wiped it off, saying the whistle already had blown the play dead.


A goal by Todd Krygier was disallowed with 5:07 left in the second period.


With 3:50 left, Dale Hunter and Sylvain Cote teamed up to get the puck to Randy Burridge at the side of the Tampa Bay net and he poked in a goal that counted to close within 4-3.


Beaupr? made two great back-to-back, one-on-one saves to keep the hope alive, but the Caps could not eke out the one that would have tied things up.


It didn't help the disposition of the Caps and their fans that the Lightning appeared to be allowed to hook and hold Capitals sticks at will, despite a recent league-wide directive for officials to crack down on those offenses.


On top of it all, Beaupr? was even called for delay of game, with 16:35 to play, when he came out above the slot to close down a Tampa Bay breakaway.


Washington's five-game home unbeaten streak also ended.


Islanders 4, Blues 2. In Uniondale, New York, Steve Thomas scored two power-play goals and Ron Hextall stopped 22 shots to lead the Islanders to a victory over the St. Louis, their fifth win in six games. The Islanders, who beat the Blues for the first time at Nassau Coliseum in six tries since Dec. 28, 1989, climbed to within two points of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Pierre Turgeon and Benoit Hogue scored the other Islander goals. Brett Hull picked up his 400th NHL goal in the loss.


The loss was only the second for St. Louis in the last 11 meetings between the teams. The Blues, who have scored only two goals in their last three losses, remain four points behind Dallas in the Central Division.


Red Wings 5, Flames 2. In Detroit, Sergei Fedorov scored his first career hat trick in a battle of Western Conference division leaders. The win was Detroit's sixth in seven games, and moved them two points ahead of idle Toronto in the Central Division. Detroit, with the league's highest-scoring offense, has used defense during their latest streak. They held the Flames to just two first-period shots.


With Detroit on a first-period power play, Paul Ranheim tipped Vyacheslav Kozlov's centering pass past Mike Vernon, into his own net. Kozlov got credit for the goal, his 30th. Keith Primeau had Detroit's fifth goal. Joel Otto and Gary Roberts scored for Calgary.


Oilers 7, Canucks 4. In Vancouver, Doug Weight scored twice and Edmonton used four power-play goals to pick up a rare road win. Weight, Ilya Byakin, Fredrik Olausson and Brent Grieve scored on the power play to give Edmonton its fourth win in 31 road games. Jason Arnott, Luke Richardson and Weight added goals as the Oilers, last in the Pacific Division, stretched their unbeaten string to four games (3-0-1).


Geoff Courtnall, Jyrki Lumme, Gino Odjick and Jimmy Carson managed Vancouver goals. Edmonton goalie Bill Ranford stopped 38 shots, while Kirk McLean turned away 24.


Vancouver won the season series 4-3.


(Baltimore Sun, AP)