Ovechkin scores No. 885, Capitals rally past Rangers for OT win

NEW YORK -- Alex Ovechkin scored his 885th goal to move 10 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894, and Tom Wilson scored in overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 3-2 comeback win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Ovechkin's current rate of 0.70 goals per game this season puts him on pace to break Gretzky's record when the Capitals play the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on April 6. Washington has 20 games remaining this season.

"Ten more," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "We got this."

Ovechkin tied the game 2-2 with a power-play goal at 10:28 of the third period. He has 32 goals in 46 games this season. The goal was his 1,599th NHL point. His next will make him the 11th player in NHL history to reach 1,600 points.

"I think our bench, everyone kind of jumps through the roof whenever he finds the back of the net, which is fitting because he's always the most excited guy on the ice when anybody else scores," Wilson said. "Whenever he scores, obviously everybody in the hockey world is pretty excited right now. Happy for him and proud how he's carrying himself and doing such a great job."

Wilson scored at 4:07 of overtime by finishing a 2-on-1 with Dylan Strome.

Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored, Wilson had an assist to go with his overtime goal, and Charlie Lindgren made 15 saves for the Capitals (40-14-8), who won their second straight game after a three-game losing streak.

"That wasn't our best, but good resiliency as always," Washington defenseman John Carlson said. "It's a good one to have when it's not going your way as much as maybe we're used to -- digging it out, working through it and staying with it."

Sam Carrick and Artemi Panarin scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 23 saves for the Rangers (31-26-5), who had won their previous two games by a combined score of 8-0.

New York has not won three games in a row since Nov. 14-19.

"I think we played well," Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad said. "I think there's a lot of things we were doing well. Obviously, you get a little pushback in the third, but overall we defended. A lot of good things from this game that we can take. We'll take the point and we'll move on."

Dubois gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead just 1:04 into the first period. He technically lost the face-off in the left circle, but Wilson won a puck battle, chipped it around Will Borgen and from below the circle made a backhanded pass to Dubois for a one-timer from the slot.

Panarin tied it 1-1 at 13:37, scoring on a deflection from the slot off Zac Jones' shot-pass from the right point that went in between Rasmus Sandin and Carlson to Panarin's stick.

Carrick gave New York a 2-1 lead at 8:05 of the second. K'Andre Miller kept the puck in at the left point. Carrick went uncovered into the slot, got the pass from Miller on his forehand and scored with a backhanded shot.

New York was trying to protect the one-goal lead in the third period, but was forced to go on the penalty kill when Jones hooked Lars Eller at 8:56, preventing the Capitals forward from a Grade-A scoring chance from the slot.

"I liked everything we were doing in the third up until they got on the power play," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "Up until that point I thought the third, it was in check with where we wanted to be, and they scored a power-play goal to tie it up."

Ovechkin scored with Jones in the box, making it 2-2 at 10:28 by scoring from the bottom of the left circle.

"Great job on the face-off, great battle and the puck came to me," Ovechkin said. "It was nice to put it in."

Connor McMichael played the puck into the slot off the right-wing wall. Andrew Mangiapane tapped it to Ovechkin, who came through the left circle and one-timed it past Shesterkin.

"There's another example of nothing really going on and he just has a flair for the dramatic in a key moment in the game," Carbery said. "The puck squirts to him and he makes no mistake. That's a huge goal for our team, huge goal on the power play."

It was Ovechkin's 636th goal in a win, passing Gretzky (635) for the most in NHL history. It was his 32nd career game-tying goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation, tying Gretzky for the most in NHL history.

"He seems to score every time on a big stage in a big moment," Carlson said, "and he did that tonight."

Wilson and Strome delivered on the 2-on-1 in overtime to end it.

Wilson gave the puck to Strome, who pulled it back to avoid Braden Schneider's attempted stick check and then fed it back to Wilson, who redirected it in as he was attacking the net at the right post.

"I wanted to get the puck to 'Stromer' just because he's got such good poise and he's such a great facilitator with the puck," Wilson said. "I knew if it was open he'd try to get it back. I made sure if he was going to pass it back that I would put it in. He made an amazing play and left me with an open net."

NOTES: The Capitals earned their 40th win in the 62nd game of the season, the fourth-fewest games needed to reach the mark in franchise history. … The win drew Washington even with the Winnipeg Jets for the most points in the NHL this season (88).