Ovechkin scores in return, Capitals top Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Alex Ovechkin scored in his return for the Washington Capitals after missing the past 16 games with a fractured fibula in a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

The Capitals went 10-5-1 without Ovechkin, who last played on Nov. 18.

“I have to find a rhythm, feel the game and try to do little things, feel the puck,” Ovechkin said. “I tried to play short and hard and go change.”

Andrew Mangiapane and Jakob Chychrun each scored and had an assist for the Capitals (24-9-2), who are 3-1-0 in their past four games. Logan Thompson made 35 saves.

“We scratched and clawed tonight, it was a little rusty you could tell coming out of the break,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “The first couple periods not the way we drew it up but we found some goals, we grinded, got some good saves and then the third period was our best period… We’ll take it, these games are tough coming out of the break.”

John Tavares and Bobby McMann scored and Matt Murray made 27 saves for the Maple Leafs (22-13-2), who are 1-3-0 in their past four.

“Probably three mistakes in the game that we made and it went in our net,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “Played a pretty hard game, lot of opportunities, we didn’t finish.”

Nic Dowd gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead at 9:53 of the second period when he took a cross-crease pass from Rasmus Sandin and shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle.

Thompson kept the Capitals up 3-2 at 6:20 of the third period when he stopped Pontus Holmberg alone in the slot after Hendrix Lapierre turned the puck over in the slot.

Later at 11:45, he stopped Mitch Marner on a partial breakaway with a glove save while Toronto was short-handed.

“We certainly had chances, had looks,” Tavares said. “We were on the wrong side of it on special teams today. It’s just small margins, execution at times. We have to execute defensively and when we create offense, we have to find ways to break them down and beat their goaltender. Goalies are going to play well, have a hot hand and you tip your cap to that but we want to find a way to break through and earn the result we need.”

Tom Wilson pushed it to 4-2 at 12:36 when he deflected Chychrun’s point shot in the slot while on the power play.

Ovechkin scored into an empty net at 16:37 for the 5-2 final. It was the 869th goal of Ovechkin’s NHL career, bringing him within 26 of passing Wayne Gretzky (894) for the NHL record.

“Every goal is hard to score in this League,” Ovechkin said. “If you want to try, take some skates and go play 6-on-5.”

The 16-game absence was the longest consecutive absence of Ovechkin's career. He had missed only 59 games since entering the League in 2005-06.

“I thought he was solid. It’s going to take him some time,” Carbery said. “I know we all want him to just hit the ground running and play the way he left off in Utah but he’s missed a lot of time and needs game reps to get up to speed. But I thought he was solid, played in all situations we needed him.”

The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 at 3:14 of the first period when Simon Benoit’s shot from the top of the left circle deflected off Tavares at the top of the goal crease.

“There’s no quit in this dressing room,” Thompson said. “We knew it was going to be a hard game, we knew they played last night, they’d come out feeling good so give credit to the guys. We stuck with it, it definitely wasn’t an easy game. That’s a really talented well-coached hockey club over there.”

Mangiapane tied it 1-1 at 4:46 when he carried the puck on a 2-on-1 with Jakub Vrana and shot between Murray’s pads from the left face-off dot.

Chychrun gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 8:54 when he one-timed a pass from Trevor van Riemsdyk at the top of the right face-off circle past Murray’s glove for his 10th goal of the season.

“I’m sure he wants a couple back but he hasn’t played a ton of hockey,” Berube said. “He battled, he fought.”

Thompson kept it 2-1, robbing William Nylander twice; once at 14:27 when he reached back with his glove to catch a shot at the goal line while out of position, and again at 17:25 when he stopped a breakaway.

“That happens,” Nylander said. “The goalie makes a great save. I myself had some great scoring chances and didn’t capitalize so that’s probably one of the reasons why (we lost) and they played well too. The chances I had early on though, that would have given us a little bit of a lead if I were to score.”

McMann tied it 2-2 at 8:10 of the second period when he jammed in his own rebound on a 2-on-1 with Max Domi.

NOTES: Ovechkin’s goal was his 60th career empty net goal, the most in NHL history. … Chychrun became the third defenseman this season to reach 10 goals, joining Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche and Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who each have 11.