John Tavares scored his ninth goal of the season 4:13 into overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs came from behind to dispose of the Washington Capitals 4-3 at Capital One Arena.
The Maple Leafs trailed 3-1 at the start of the third period, before scoring three unanswered goals to take the victory. In addition to his net, Tavares also added an assist to his record. William Nylander and Mitch Marner also had a night of one goal and one assist for Toronto (10-6-2).
Aliaksei Protas was the best for Washington (10-4-1) with a goal and an assist.
Joseph Woll blocked 24 shots for the winners. His opposite Logan Thompson, who suffered his first defeat in eight starts, turned away 31 pucks.
Taylor Raddysh allowed the Capitals to open the scoring with his third goal of the season at 11:12 of the first period, but Bobby McMann tied the score 59 seconds later.
Dylan Strome gave the Capitals a goal back with his fifth of the season with 1:27 left in the period.
Protas gave his team a two-goal lead by scoring his sixth of the season at 17:48 of the middle period.
The Maple Leafs then began their comeback. Nylander gave Toronto hope by making it 3-2 at 15:51.
Marner finally forced overtime by scoring on a power play with 48 seconds left, while Woll found himself on the bench thanks to a sixth skater.
Tavares gave his team the victory on a pass from Marner.
Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson played his 1,000th game in the NHL.
Recovering from a lower body injury, defenseman Jani Hakanpää played his first game of the year with Toronto. He played for 15:36 and directed two shots on goal.
With an upper body injury, Auston Matthews missed a fifth game in a row for Toronto.
Alex Ovechkin (863) is still 31 goals behind Wayne Gretzky’s record, who scored 894 during his career.
Acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, veteran Lars Eller was left behind by the Capitals. He has not played with Washington since February 2023.
