Rangers’ comeback bid falls short in loss to Capitals

WASHINGTON — Tom Wilson had two goals, Alex Ovechkin scored the 724th of his career and the Washington Capitals held on to beat the New York Rangers 5-4 Sunday for their 10th victory in 11 games.

Ovechkin has 11 goals in those 11 games and leads the team with 18 this season. He’s seven shy of tying Marcel Dionne for fifth on the NHL career goal-scoring list.

The Capitals led 4-0 early in the third period on a goal by Evgeny Kuznetsov before a Rangers scoring flurry made things interesting. T.J. Oshie’s deflection goal with 8:14 left that gave him a three-point game proved crucial as it stood up as the game-winner.

Colin Blackwell scored twice on his 28th birthday, No. 1 pick Alexis Lafrenière scored the fifth goal of his rookie season and Chris Kreider scored on the power play, cutting New York’s deficit to one with 3:52 left. Ilya Samsonov made a few final saves to give him 16 in his second consecutive victory.

Kuznetsov has 12 goals in his past 10 games and Wilson four in four since returning from a seven-game suspension. Oshie assisted on Ovechikin’s goal and one by Wilson, and Jakub Vrana picked up his first point in five games.

Keith Kinkaid made 17 saves for the Rangers, who have lost back-to-back one-goal games after a three-game winning streak.

The Capitals remained unbeaten in regulation in one-goal games. They went 5-1 on their five-game homestand and are now two points up on the second-place New York Islanders atop the East Division.