NEW YORK — Matt Bradley bounced back from having his face bloodied in a first-period fight to net the winning goal with 4:51 left, and Alex Ovechkin also scored in his return from injury to lift the Washington Capitals to a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
Bradley went to the dressing room with 9:21 left in the opening period after taking several hard blows to the face from New York’s Aaron Voros. Those injuries didn’t bother Bradley a bit when he knocked the puck away from Wade Redden and raced up ice on a break. Matt Gilroy couldn’t catch him from behind, and Bradley beat goalie Henrik Lundqvist with a rising shot to the glove side for his fourth goal of the season.
Ovechkin missed six games because of an upper-body injury, believed to be a strained left shoulder, but came back with a flourish. He netted his NHL-leading 15th goal, in only 15 games, while New York’s Sean Avery sat in the penalty box. That erased the Rangers’ 1-0 advantage in the first period.
Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau earned his 100th NHL victory.
Marian Gaborik scored both goals for the Rangers and moved into a tie with Ovechkin with his 15th. Gaborik gave New York a 1-0 lead just 1:16 in and then made it 2-2 at 8:23 of the third with a power-play goal against Washington backup goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Brooks Laich pushed the Capitals in front 2-1 when he got to a rebound of defenseman Mike Green’s shot in the crease and knocked it past Lundqvist and into the net with 4:16 remaining in the second. Brian Pothier scored an empty-netter with 16.7 seconds left to make it 4-2.
