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Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (left) scores his team's first goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs as Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly defends during first period NHL hockey action in Toronto, on Saturday, November 25, 2017.Chris Young/The Canadian Press

Alex Ovechkin scored a hat trick to lead the Washington Capitals past the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Saturday night.

Ovechkin scored two of his three goals in the opening period for the Capitals (14-10-1). Jakub Vrana also chipped in and Braden Holtby made 27 saves for his 13th win of the season.

Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev replied in the third period for Toronto (15-9-1). Curtis McElhinney stopped 17 shots in defeat.

Ovechkin's first goal occurred when he skated with the puck through the neutral zone before taking a wrist shot from just outside the left face-off circle and beating McElhinney at 12:03.

It was Ovechkin's 574th goal of his career, which put him past Mike Bossy for 21st all-time.

He scored his second goal at 19:13 while on the power play. The goal was Ovechkin's 217th of his career with the man advantage, which moved him into a tie with Calgary Flames forward Jaromir Jagr for the most among active NHL players.

Ovechkin added an empty netter to give him 18 goals this season, which is among the league leaders.

Vrana scored the Capitals' third goal of the game at 11:02 of the second period for his seventh of the season.

The Leafs scored their first goal of the game at 1:24 of the third when Gardiner's shot from the point cleared through a screen in front of Holtby.

Zaitsev made it a one-goal game at 6:09 when his backhand shot went off the stick of Capitals defenceman Taylor Chorney and into the net.

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