Alex Ovechkin scores twice to push the Capitals past the Rangers

Alex Ovechkin scored two goals for the Washington Capitals in a 5-3 win over the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

The Washington captain now has 857 career goals, 37 behind Wayne Gretzky for the NHL all-time record.

Aliaksei Protas had a goal and two assists and Connor McMichael and Nic Dowd also scored for the Capitals. Rasmus Sandin and Dylan Strome each had two assists and Logan Thompson made 16 saves in the win.

Will Cuylle, Chris Kreider and Filip Chytil scored while Igor Shesterkin stopped 41 shots for the Rangers.

Ovechkin started a wild scoring streak between the teams at 3:23 of the first period. Strome sent a backhand feed to Ovechkin at the top of the left circle for a wrist shot that beat Shesterkin five holes and took a 1-0 lead.

The Rangers responded 58 seconds later. Kaapo Kakko pushed the puck away from Sandin along the neutral zone wall and collected it before backhanding a two-on-one to Cuylle, who scored from the slot at 4:21.

Ovechkin's second goal of the night put the Capitals back in the lead, 2-1. Ovechkin picked up a pass from Protas from deep and fired it over Shesterkin's right guard at 5:10.

It was the first multi-goal game of the season for Ovechkin, who doubled his goal total this season.

McMichael made it 3-1 at 8:58 of the first game. Taylor Raddysh's shot from the right circle toward the net was deflected by New York defenseman Victor Mancini and sent to McMichael for a tip-in at the back door.

The Rangers scored on a power play 30 seconds into the second period to cut the deficit to 3-2. Kreider stood at the side of the net to block Mika Zibanejad's shot past Thompson.

Protas gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead at 4:30 of the middle period. After winning a puck battle in the corner, Protas sent it to Sandin, who took it to the left circle before passing it to Protas, who drove to the net for a tip-in.

Chytil responded 14 seconds later for New York by directing Mancini's pass past Thompson's stick and bringing the visitors within 4-3.

Dowd scored an unanswered goal at 19:24 of the third period to make the final score 5-3.

–Field level media