WASHINGTON -- With just over seven minutes left in a game they couldn't afford to lose, the Washington Capitals suddenly found themselves a man down and tied with the Arizona Coyotes.

Daniel Winnik helped kill off the penalty and then won the game.

Winnik scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 4:39 left, Alex Ovechkin produced his 30th of the season and the Capitals defeated the Coyotes 4-1 on Saturday night.

Shortly after the Coyotes power play ended, Winnik, a fourth-line winger, took a pass from Dmitry Orlov on a rush and beat goaltender Mike Smith from the right circle.

"It's great. He does so many other things that don't get noticed," teammate Kevin Shattenkirk, who had two assists, said of Winnik. "You love to see guys lke that get rewarded with big time goals like that because we need everyone at this time of year."

Just 32 seconds later, Justin Williams netted his 21st goal of the season to provide some insurance and Winnik later added an empty-netter, tying his career high with his 11th goal.

It was the third time this season that Winnik, acquired last season in a trade with Chicago, scored against one of his former teams.

"Yeah, there was a quote earlier that if I scored against all my other old teams I'd have more goals," Winnik joked. "We play a couple of them down the stretch (and) so hopefully that's the case."

Washington (49-17-8) has won four straight and leads Pittsburgh and Columbus by three points in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals play six of their final eight games away from home and begin a five-game road trip Tuesday at Minnesota.

Ovechkin, who scored a power-play goal in the first period, joined Mike Gartner (15 seasons) and Wayne Gretzky (13) as the only players in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in each of their first 12 seasons.

"It's nice to be history," Ovechkin said, "but more history to come."

Right after Washington failed to convert on a power play, Braden Holtby stopped Anthony Duclair on the rush, but Peter Holland tied it with 7:31 left in the third period.

"I thought we were brutal in the first period, to be honest," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "Then we got our legs under us and we competed hard from there on in and we made a couple of poor reads by our defensemen and it cost us the game."

Holtby stopped 28 shots and the Capitals set a franchise record for home wins as they improved to 31-6-2 at Verizon Center.

Smith made 29 saves for Arizona (27-39-9), which fell to 1-3 on its five-game road swing.

"We're on a hard road trip and you've got young players that are learning good lessons," Tippett said. "I'd like to see our veterans be a lot mentally tougher here, and I know it's a tough situation and everything, but we had some players not play very well tonight."

Ovechkin opened the scoring after he drew a hooking penalty on Alex Goligoski at 7:31 of the first period.

One minute later, the Coyotes gave Ovechkin too much room. He received a cross-ice pass from Nicklas Backstrom near the left faceoff circle, took his time, then wristed a shot past Smith.

Backstrom has 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) in his last six games.

The Capitals outshot the Coyotes 12-3 in the period.

"I thought we got it going a little bit as the game went on," Smith said, "but you know, to come into this building against this team and have a first period like we did tonight was pretty sad."

NOTES: Alex Ovechkin became the 28th player in NHL history with 400 power-play points. ... Braden Holtby is one victory from becoming the third goaltender in NHL history with three consecutive 40-win seasons. ... Coyotes F Shane Doan (lower-body injury) misses his fifth straight game. D Anthony DeAngelo was a scratch. ... Arizona concludes its five-game road trip Monday in St. Louis. ... The teams meet for the second and final time on March 31 at Arizona. ... Defenseman Nate Schmidt and Taylor Chorney and C Paul Carey didn't dress for Washington.