Ovechkin scores 499th to give Washington overtime win over Rangers

The Capitals forced overtime when center Nicklas Backstrom tied the score with 5.7 seconds remaining in regulation.

Per the Capitals, Ovechkin has scored on 115 different netminders, with Henrik Lundqvist surrendering the most (20), followed by Kari Lehtonen (19) and a three-way tie between Ondrej Pavelec, Ryan Miller and Marc-Andre Fleury for third most (18).

Teammates mobbed Ovechkin, and he got an extended standing ovation and took a skate around the rink, acknowledging the cheering crowd that included his parents.

Ovechkin will attempt to become the first Russian and fifth-fastest to score 500 goals when the Capitals host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.

Viktor Stalberg would give the Rangers the surprise 4-3 lead with just under seven minutes to go in the period.

Williams put Washington on the board 8:07 into the first, and Oshie scored on a power play later in the period.

Elsewhere, Minnesota beat faltering Dallas, St. Louis won in a shootout against Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh won at Montreal. Michael Latta was a scratch for Washington with an upper-body injury….

Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings, who lead Arizona by nine points atop the Pacific Division.

Ovechkin, whose 499th carer goal was the overtime victor against the New York Rangers Saturday, was held pointless by Hammond and to just three shots on goal when the Capitals defeated the Senators 2-1 in D.C. on December 16 – the only other meeting of the teams so far this season.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Jordan Staal scored in overtime to help Carolina recover after giving up a three-goal lead.

The Philadelphia Flyers took home a 4-0 victory of their own last night as well, but one of their prospects has been stealing the show.

That’s caused some to wonder if Ovechkin could ever catch Gretzky as the league’s all-time goal leader with 894. Nashville has lost three in a row and four of the last five. Jaroslav Halak made 27 saves for the Isles.

The right-handed McIlrath has a goal and an assist in 17 games. Markstrom finished with 32 saves in his seventh straight start.

But in the third period, the Rangers suddenly came to life, finally getting that secondary scoring they had so desperately needed for so long. He lit the lamp for the 23rd time this season, this one on the power play, bringing his career total to 498. The Blues evened the score at 1 on Alex Pietrangelo’s third goal of the season at 12:33 of the second period.

Dubnyk stopped another shot by Benn with 1:00 left, after the Stars pulled goalie Antti Niemi for an extra skater.

Ovechkin and Williams scored to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead. If Ovechkin can play another eight years, and stay healthy, he could finish as one of the game’s top 10 all-time scorers. Niemi made 23 saves.

Tomas Hertl scored twice and was joined on the scoresheet by Brent Burns, Matt Nieto, Joe Pavelski, Malker Karlsson and Joonas Donski. If they had played like that in December, they could have avoided their 3-9-2 stretch.