Sports

NHL

The Associated Press

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 him 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 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. Green also earned the primary assist on Ovechkin’s goal.

Senators 3, Maple Leafs 2

OTTAWA — Mike Fisher scored twice, including the tiebreaking goal in the second period, and the Ottawa Senators beat the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Fisher beat Vesa Toskala with a high shot with 5:50 left in the second period to help the Senators rally from a 2-1 deficit.

Milan Michalek also scored for the Senators (9-6-3), who earned their first win in three games. Alex Kovalev, Alexandre Picard and Chris Campoli added two assists each.

Pascal Leclaire stopped 30 shots in goal, including 15 in the third period when the Maple Leafs pressed for the tying goal.

Phil Kessel and Niklas Hagman scored for the Leafs (3-11-5), who lost their fourth straight.

Predators 4, Sharks 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Joel Ward and David Legwand each had a goal and two assists, and the Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks for their third straight win and seventh in nine games.

Jerred Smithson had a goal and Ryan Suter had two assists for Nashville, which was was coming off a 2-0 win over Montreal in which the Predators fired off a franchise-record 55 shots. Putting the puck in the net was no problem against Sharks backup goalie Thomas Greiss, playing his fourth game this season.

Joe Thornton had a goal and an assist, Scott Nichol had a short-handed goal and Patrick Marleau also scored for San Jose, which lost in regulation for the first time since Oct. 22.

Hurricanes 3, Canadiens 2

MONTREAL — Carey Price stopped all six Carolina attempts in the shootout, Maxim Lapierre scored the winner and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Hurricanes.

Price stopped Tuomo Ruutu, Jussi Jokinen, Rod Brind’Amour, Sergei Samsonov and Bryan Rodney before Lapierre finally beat Carolina’s Manny Legace on Montreal’s sixth attempt. Price then got enough of Erik Cole’s shot off a deke on the Hurricanes’ next attempt to leave the puck on the goal line to the delight of the sell-out crowd.

Max Pacioretty and Andrei Kostitsyn scored in regulation for Montreal.

Brandon Sutter and Jussi Jokinen had the Hurricanes’ goals.