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WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin began his second decade in the NHL Saturday night with the kind of game that regularly populated his first. Ovechkin scored a highlight-reel go-ahead goal and added a pretty assist, and the Washington Capitals opened their season with a 5-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
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After receiving the puck in his own end, Ovechkin dashed into the New Jersey zone and, after entering the left circle, slid the puck between his legs to get around defenseman John Moore.
The Washington winger, who led the league with 53 goals last season -- his 10th -- fired a shot over goaltender Keith Kincaid's left shoulder to make it 3-2 with 13:27 remaining.
"That's what the fans play money to see," left wing Jason Chimera said. "Just a world-class goal by a world-class player. You don't see that. A lot of guys would fall down if they tried that kind of stuff."
Later in the period, Ovechkin helped make it 4-2 when he set up left wing Marcus Johansson's power-play goal with a perfect pass through the slot after retrieving his own blocked shot.
"Our line didn't play well in the (first) two periods; but, in the third, we started moving the puck and we controlled the puck and we had some scoring chances," Ovechkin said.
Chimera and defenseman Matt Niskanen also each notched a goal and an assist, and defenseman Brooks Orpik scored as Washington won despite losing an early 2-0 lead.
"Hopefully that's just the first game, a little rusty," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "I didn't like our overall game. We just sort of mismanaged it a little bit. Too many turnovers. It wasn't a solid game for us."
Braden Holtby made 22 saves for Washington.
Center Adam Henrique, defenseman Eric Gelinas and left wing Mike Cammalleri scored for New Jersey (0-2-0).
"It was a good game. A lot of things we talked about wanting to accomplish coming into tonight's game we were able to do," Devils coach John Hynes said. "Unfortunately, when the game was on the line, we didn't respond the right way after that (Ovechkin) goal."
Kinkaid, starting in place of Cory Schneider in the second of back-to-back games, made 22 saves.
Consecutive penalties gave Washington a 5-on-3 power play for 1:38 late in the second period, but they didn't score.
Kincaid made several solid stops, including a sliding pad save on right wing T.J. Oshie, who got in alone while the Devils were making a change.
"Definitely got into the game there. It was a big kill for us," Kinkaid said. "Boys did a great job battling, blocking shots, keeping Ovi in check. A lot of positives from that."
Holtby returned the favor with a similar save to thwart Henrique on a breakaway after the power play.
After a quiet 10 minutes, the Capitals took a 2-0 lead in the first period.
With Washington center Evgeny Kuznetsov off for hooking, defenseman John Carlson started a rush when he cleared the puck out to right wing Justin Williams.
Williams skated in and dropped the puck back to Chimera, who sent the puck back toward Williams near the net; it deflected off New Jersey right wing Jordin Tootoo's stick and past Kincaid.
It was the first time in franchise history that the Capitals' opening goal of a season came short-handed.
Then, 14:32 into the period, defenseman Tom Wilson skated out from behind the Devils' net, fed Orpik in the slot, and Orpik fired low to make it 2-0.
Orpik, in his second year with the Capitals, played 78 games last season without a goal.
The Devils answered 22 seconds later when Henrique came in alone off a feed from center Jiri Tlusty and beat Holtby high to the stick side.
Gelinas tied it at 17:40 with a blast from the point on a power play.
NOTES: C Reid Boucher, RW Tuomo Ruutu and D Damon Severson were scratched for the Devils. ... New Jersey C Brian O'Neill, 27, made his NHL debut. ... The Washington scratches were D Taylor Chorney and RW Stanislav Galiev. ... C Nicklas Backstrom, the 2014-15 NHL assists leader, is recovering from offseason hip surgery and is expected to miss Washington's first four to five games. ... Capitals D Dmitry Orlov returned after missing all of last season due to wrist surgery. ... Washington was 4-1 against New Jersey last season, outscoring the Devils 17-6. ... After opening with games on consecutive nights, New Jersey doesn't play another back-to-back set until Nov. 27-28.
