Alex Ovechkin played his first game of the preseason for the Washington Capitals, who lost 3-1 to the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena in Washington on Thursday.
Ovechkin, who was minus-2 in 21:07 of ice time, had been recovering from a lower-body injury that caused him to leave practice a few minutes into the first day of training camp on Sept. 18. The 40-year-old left wing resumed skating last week and was cleared for full contact in practice on Monday.
Brett Harrison scored twice, and Riley Tufte also had a goal for the Bruins (3-1-1). Joonas Korpisalo made 33 saves.
Ryan Leonard scored, and Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves for the Capitals (4-1-0).
Leonard gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 9:42 of the first period, swatting in a rebound in front.
Tufte tied it 1-1 at 16:16 of the second period. Lindgren stopped a puck that had been dumped the length of the ice, but the goaltender hesitated on how to play it, and Tufte lunged with his stick and knocked it five-hole into the net.
Harrison gave Boston a 2-1 lead at 19:11. He drove hard to the net along the goal line and had his shot deflect in off the skate of Capitals defenseman Vincent Iorio.
Harrison then scored his second of the game into an empty net at 18:46 of the third period for the 3-1 final.
Islanders 4, Flyers 3: Anders Lee scored in his return for the New York Islanders, who defeated the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
Lee was playing in his first preseason game since sustaining an upper-body injury on Sept. 24. At the time of the injury, he was expected to be out 1-2 weeks.
Adam Pelech, Maxim Shabanov and Emil Heineman also scored for the Islanders (2-2-2). Maxim Tsyplakov had two assists, and Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves.
Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny and Noah Cates scored for the Flyers (2-4-0). Samuel Ersson made 23 saves.
Sanheim gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 1:46 of the first period. He buried a shot from the low slot after skating into a drop pass from Christian Dvorak, who left the puck for him on a breakaway.
Shabanov, who signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the Islanders on July 2, tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 3:45 of the second period.
Konecny put the Flyers back in front 2-1 at 11:10 with a one-timer from just inside the blue line.
Lee responded 15 seconds later with a shot from the top of the right circle to tie it 2-2.
Pelech put the Islanders ahead 3-2 with a short-handed goal at 17:12, but Cates answered right back with a goal on the same power play to tie it 3-3 at 18:05.
Heineman gave New York a 4-3 lead at 17:06 of the third period. He got behind the defense on a rush, knocked down a saucer pass from Anthony Duclair, and slid a backhand five-hole on Ersson.
Devils 3, Rangers 1: The New Jersey Devils scored twice in the third period to defeat the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Ondrej Palat and Dawson Mercer scored in the third, and Paul Cotter also had a goal for the Devils (3-2-1). Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves.
Adam Edstrom scored for the Rangers (2-2-1). Jonathan Quick made 10 saves.
Cotter gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 16:58 of the first period. Following a Rangers turnover at center ice, Arseny Gritsyuk led a 2-on-1 rush and sent a cross-ice pass to Cotter, who finished the play with a wrist shot from the left circle.
The Rangers tied the game 1-1 at 13:30 of the second period when Devils defenseman Simon Nemec’s clearing attempt from in front of the crease struck Edstrom’s left skate and deflected back in past Markstrom.
Palat gave the Devils a 2-1 lead at 2:44 of the third period. He set up in the slot and redirected Dougie Hamilton’s shot five-hole on Quick for a power-play goal.
Mercer scored an empty-net goal from center ice at 18:37 for the 3-1 final.
Red Wings 3, Maple Leafs 1: The Detroit Red Wings rallied with three goals in the third period to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Emmitt Finnie had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat also scored for the Red Wings (4-3-0). Cam Talbot made 18 saves.
Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs (2-2-1). Anthony Stolarz made 40 saves.
Matthews gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 2:08 of the first period. He scored on a one-timer from a sharp angle from low in the right circle.
Larkin tied it 1-1 at 5:04 of the third period, deflecting Ben Chiarot’s point shot before getting the rebound and scoring from the slot.
DeBrincat put the Red Wings in front 2-1 at 12:28, poking the puck in from just outside the left post after the Maple Leafs failed to clear the zone.
Finnie scored an empty-net goal at 18:37 for the 3-1 final.