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.

Brian Pothier scored an empty-netter with 16.7 seconds left to make it 4-2.

The Rangers were fortunate to be trailing by only a goal heading into the third period as they were outshot 21-11 through 40 minutes. New York finished with 20 shots, tying its season low.

New York netted the equalizer when Gaborik scored from the goal line to Varlamov’s right, snapping in a shot from a difficult angle after the puck bounced to him. The Rangers converted on the second of back-to-back penalties.

Washington went 4-2 while Ovechkin was out, then beat New York despite missing top forward Alexander Semin, who was sidelined by a sore right wrist. Varlamov got the start in place of No. 1 goalie Jose Theodore, who was home because of a personal reason.

Varlamov played well against the Rangers after replacing Theodore in the nets during the first round of last season’s playoffs and was a major reason why the Capitals were able to erase a 3-1 series deficit and advance. He made 22 saves on Tuesday.

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 3-2 Tuesday night.

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. Kessel extended his point-scoring streak to six games, during which he has five goals and three assists.

Rookie defenseman Carl Gunnarsson picked up an assist on Kessel’s goal for his first NHL point. Toskala, still looking for his first win of the season, made 18 saves and fell to 0-4-2.

There were three fights in the opening 20 minutes. Ottawa’s Jesse Winchester and Toronto’s Jeff Finger got things started early, dropping the gloves less than 3 minutes in. Senators defenseman Matt Carkner and Leafs winger Colton Orr squared off midway through the period, with Orr catching Carkner with a punch that dropped the big blue-liner. About a minute later, Ottawa’s Chris Neil went at it with Toronto’s Luke Schenn.

Fisher pounced on a loose puck in the slot and slipped a shot past Toskala to make it 1-0 at 8:08 of the first. It was the 17th time in 19 games that the Leafs have given up the opening goal.

However, the Leafs tied it 62 seconds later when Kessel crossed the Senators’ blueline and wristed a shot past Leclaire.

Hagman put the Leafs into the lead when he beat a screened Leclaire less than 5 minutes into the second, but the Senators responded when Michalek scored on a deflection with Hagman in the penalty box for hooking midway through the period.

Leclaire was at his best in the third when made a great save to reach his stick back and steer the puck out of the crease after a fluke bounce almost got past him. He survived another close call when Leafs forward Lee Stempniak struck the post with a shot from in close.

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 4-3 Tuesday night 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.