Alex Ovechkin, Capitals end Maple Leafs win streak

WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin scored 22 seconds into overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 6-5 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Verizon Center on Tuesday.
It was Ovechkin's 19th NHL overtime goal, tying Jaromir Jagr for most in League history.
"Obviously, it's a fun game to watch," Ovechkin said. "It's nice we didn't give them momentum in the third, score big goal right away. We knew the game was out there and we just have to continue to push, and we got the result."
Justin Williams, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and John Carlson scored for Washington (23-9-5). Kuznetsov had three assists, and Williams and Marcus Johansson each had two.

WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Capitals highlights
The Capitals will go for their fourth victory in a row Thursday when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets, who will attempt to tie the NHL record with a 17th consecutive win (Pittsburgh Penguins, 1992-93).
Washington goalie Braden Holtby allowed three goals on eight shots in the first period and was replaced by Philipp Grubauer to begin the second. Grubauer made 15 saves.
Nazem Kadri, Connor Brown, Frederik Gauthier, Leo Komarov and Mitchell Marner scored for Toronto (17-13-7), and Frederik Andersen made 23 saves.
The Maple Leafs had won five games in a row, including 5-4 in overtime against the Detroit Red Wings in the 2017 Scotiabank NHL Centennial Classic at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto on Sunday.
Carlson tied it 5-5 with his fourth goal at 13:55 of the third period after Marner put the Maple Leafs ahead 5-4 with his 10th at 11:08.

The Capitals trailed 4-2 entering the third but tied the game 4-4 on goals 1:19 apart from Kuznetsov and Orlov. Kuznetsov scored at 2:20 to make it 4-3, and Orlov's second goal of the season at 3:39 tied it.
Williams scored a power-play goal at 1:14 of the first period to put Washington ahead 1-0. His 10th goal came off a deflection of an Orlov point shot.
Kadri tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 6:39 of the first. He put in a loose puck in the crease for his 14th goal.
Brown made it 2-1 when he beat Holtby top shelf at 11:44 of the first for his eighth goal.
Oshie scored off a pass from Williams with four minutes left in the first to tie it 2-2, but Gauthier tipped a loose puck behind Holtby to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead with 1:54 left in the period.

Komarov scored on the power play to make it 4-2 at 13:33 of the second period off a slick pass from Auston Matthews, who had two assists to extend his point streak to seven games.
"We've had a good run here on the road," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I think that's six games in a row we got points in, and five of them we won. You can't often get points on the road if you don't play right, you don't play well. Tonight, I thought the power play was good enough, but we weren't good enough."

Goal of the game

Ovechkin got open at the bottom of the left faceoff circle and beat Andersen with a one-timer to the short side off a pass from Carlson.

Save of the game

Andersen went post to post to deny Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen's shot from the left faceoff circle with a sprawling blocker save at 10:29 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Matthews made a spectacular spin-around pass from behind the net to Komarov, who was waiting in front to score his seventh goal.

Unsung performance of the game

Niskanen had an assist, a plus-1 rating, five shots on goal, two hits and a blocked shot in a game-high 24:59 of ice time.

They said it

"It was one of those games where every time they did get a chance, it seemed to end up in the back of our net. ... A little bit of resiliency for us. We'll take a good comeback. I thought when it counted, everybody stepped up."-- Capitals coach Barry Trotz
"It was fun. We felt like we needed a little excitement in here. I think we just kind of willed our way to that win. It was fun and exciting for everybody." -- Capitals forward Justin Williams

"I'm just trying to get the goalie to move to one side and put it back on the other. [Leo Komarov] was in really good position. I was just lucky to get it to him there, and stick on the ice, he put it in. It was a nice play by him." -- Maple Leafs rookie forward Auston Matthews

Need to know

Of the 14 combined points for the Maple Leafs, eight were scored by rookies.

What's next

Maple Leafs:At the New Jersey Devils on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; MSG+, SNO, NHL.TV)
Capitals: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-DC, FS-O, NHL.TV)