After Derek Stepan came agonizingly close to sending the Rangers to their most thrilling win of the season, Alex Ovechkin went to work.
Ovechkin, the Capitals’ 30-year-old scoring machine, corralled the puck behind his net, then propelled himself the length of the Madison Square Garden ice before beating Henrik Lundqvist with a perfectly placed shot for his second goal of the game and the 499th of his career.
Ovechkin’s goal at 1 minute 25 seconds of overtime on Saturday afternoon, his 24th of the season, lifted the Capitals past the Rangers, 4-3. Besides depriving the Rangers of an extra point, it also signaled Washington’s superiority.