WASHINGTON — Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson made their season debuts and the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0 on Sunday night.

It marked the first time Backstrom and Wilson took the ice at Capital One Arena since the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs in May. Both underwent major procedures in the offseason – Backstrom had hip resurfacing surgery and Wilson had ACL surgery.

Following nearly eight months of rehabilitation, both were cleared to make their long-awaited returns and were integrated quickly into the top six. Backstrom slotted in as the first-line center between Alex Ovechkin and Conor Sheary while Wilson played on the second-line right wing with Dylan Strome and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Both also got time on the power play, with Backstrom running the half-wall on the top unit and Wilson getting a look on the second unit.

Darcy Kuemper continued his strong play between the pipes as he made 37 saves and held off the swarming Blue Jackets for his fourth shutout of the season and second in five games.

Despite the Capitals getting two of their stars back in the mix, the ice wasn’t exactly tilted in their favor, as Columbus, coming off a 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, dominated in shots on goal and limited Washington’s chances at 5-on-5 and on the man advantage. However, Erik Gustafsson‘s goal just 2:43 minutes into the game secured the win for the Capitals.

Elvis Merzlikins made 18 saves for Columbus, who have now dropped 10 of the last 12 games.

NOTES: Gustafsson scored his seventh goal of the season, all of them in the last 11 games. … Garnet Hathaway and Gavin Bayreuther dropped the gloves in the first period … Anthony Mantha was a healthy scratch for the first time in his Capitals tenure, as he and Nicolas Aube-Kubel sat out with Backstrom and Wilson returning.

UP NEXT

Blue Jackets: Visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.

Capitals: Visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday in the first half of a home-and-home series.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — David Pastrnak had three goals and an assist, Hampus Lindholm scored a goal in his Anaheim homecoming, and the Boston Bruins completed a perfect three-game road trip with a 7-1 victory over the Ducks on Sunday night.

David Krejci had a goal and two assists before Brad Marchand, Lindholm and Charlie Coyle added third-period goals for the first-place Bruins. Boston has won four straight overall after trouncing California’s three NHL teams by a combined 16-5 over the past four days.

“Our defense is playing well, and all four lines are rolling, and we’ve got two great goaltenders,” Pastrnak said after the Bruins (32-4-4) boosted their overall NHL lead to 11 points over Toronto and Carolina. “We’re doing great and playing for each other.”

Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves to back Pastrnak, who has 32 goals in 40 games this season after securing his 13th career hat trick. He scored a whopping seven goals in the Bruins’ three West Coast games, and this outburst in Anaheim was yet another indication the Czech winger is about to get a monster contract, either before or after he hits unrestricted free agency this summer.

“I had some good looks and I was able to capitalize,” Pastrnak said. “Unbelievable trip for us. Now let’s go home.”

Trevor Zegras scored and John Gibson stopped 35 shots for the Ducks, who failed to secure their first three-game winning streak since November 2021. Last-place Anaheim dropped to 3-4-1 on its franchise-record, 10-game homestand.

“In the first two periods, I was OK with the effort,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “In the third, we just unscrewed our brains.”

After Pastrnak secured the sixth 30-goal season of his career with a first-period score, he wrapped his hat trick with two goals 17 seconds apart in the second period. He put a power-play goal between Gibson’s legs and followed it with a breakaway goal, sending dozens of hats flying onto the Orange County ice from Bruins fans.

Boston coach Jim Montgomery said Pastrnak is “elite. Creative. He’s like an artist in the different ways he scores. … I would have broke my ankle if I was the goalie (on the third goal).”

Pastrnak is no stranger to prolific performances against the Ducks: He scored a career-best four goals on Anaheim in Boston in October 2019.

Ducks fans gave a warm welcome home to Lindholm, the longtime Anaheim defenseman who was traded to Boston last spring when new general manager Pat Verbeek decided not to sign him to a long-term contract. Lindholm, the sixth overall pick by the Ducks in 2012, is third in franchise history among defensemen in points, goals, assists and blocked shots.

Lindholm immediately got an eight-year, $52 million deal from the Bruins, and the Swede has been worth it: He left his homecoming game with an impressive 28 points and a plus-29 rating.

“It was a great moment,” Lindholm said of the tribute video and standing ovation for him in the first period. “This place is special to me, but now I’m on to a new chapter that I’m really excited about.”

Pastrnak put the Bruins ahead less than four minutes in from the top of the left circle with a quick wrist shot past Gibson, who was screened by teammate John Klingberg.

Zegras, who scored 36 points in his one season at Boston University, scored his 12th goal of the season on a nasty one-timer late in the first.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Host Seattle on Thursday.

Ducks: Host Edmonton on Wednesday.

TORONTO — Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist to reach 500 career points as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Saturday night.

John Tavares had two goals and Pontus Holmberg also scored for Toronto, which snapped a two-game skid with its first win of the month.

Marner hit the 500-point mark in his 467th career game, just four days after Auston Matthews accomplished the feat. Matthews is the fastest player in franchise history to do it, accomplishing it in 445 games.

“It’s just a cool moment, for sure,” Marner said. “You definitely don’t try and really think about setting milestones or doing milestones and trying not (to) be selfish about yourself.”

Earlier in the season, Marner set the franchise record with a 23-game point streak.

“Growing up here in the city and dreaming to play for this team and doing it all with this team, it’s been special, it’s been a lot of fun but there’s bigger goals ahead,” Marner said. “It’s cool, enjoying the moment, but time to refresh and think about (next opponent) Philly now.”

Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves in a bounce-back effort after surrendering five goals in a 6-5 shootout loss to St. Louis on Tuesday.

“I think it’s noteworthy just the job Sammy did tonight,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We’ve been needing our whole team to play better. … But Sammy, the last three games in particular, he and (goaltending coach) Curtis Sanford have put in some real work.”

Jake Walman scored for Detroit in its third straight loss. Magnus Hellberg finished with 25 saves.

“Unfortunately, a fairly similar theme. Five-on-five play, good,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Unfortunately, we lost the special teams battle tonight.”

Tavares capped a run of four consecutive goals for Toronto with an empty-netter with 1:39 remaining. It was his 18th of the season.

Olli Maata sent a laser of a pass from the end boards to spring Walman on a breakaway midway through the first period. Walman beat Samsonov top corner to open the scoring with 8:03 left in the opening period.

Marner tied it 24 seconds into the second with a sharp-angled goal on a rebound from Matthews’ point shot that went wide and off the boards behind the net. It gave Marner his milestone and Matthews was credited with an assist, allowing both players to extend their point streaks to four games.

Tavares scored the go-ahead goal 6:37 into the second when Calle Jarnkrok found him streaking down the middle of Detroit’s zone between two defenders.

“We just talked about upping our pace, really and just some of the execution coming out of our own end,” Tavares said of the team’s turnaround after a slow start. “I think we were just much quicker coming out of our own end, moving the puck a little faster and that allowed our feet to get moving, get on the forecheck and tilt the ice a little bit.”

Holmberg gave the Leafs a two-goal advantage when he tipped in Morgan Rielly‘s point shot 6:19 into the third for his fourth.

“Pretty good first period, we didn’t give up much,” Lalonde said. “Didn’t really hate our second, looks like we lost a little bit of gas. . Come out of that period down 2-1, and then we didn’t have enough for a push in the third.”

GOLDEN CANADIANS

Five members of Canada’s gold-medal winning world junior team were honored just past the midway mark of the first period. Brennan Othmann, Ethan del Mastro, Owen Beck, Shane Wright and Zack Ostapchuk were given a standing ovation from the Scotiabank Arena crowd when shown on the video board.

INDIGENOUS CELEBRATION

Saturday’s contest was Toronto’s first Indigenous Celebration game. Players wore warm-up jerseys designed by Indigenous artist Tyler Rushnell. The jerseys will be up for auction on Real Sports Auction with all of the proceeds to be donated to the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre. There were also performances from the Toronto Council Fire Native All Nations Juniors drum group as Leafs players were introduced and a hoop dance routine during the second intermission.

UP NEXT

Red Wings: Host Winnipeg on Tuesday night to open a three-game homestand.

Maple Leafs: At Philadelphia on Sunday night.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson are finally ready to return for the Washington Capitals.

The team said Saturday that Backstrom and Wilson are being activated off injured reserve to make their respective season debuts. The playmaking center and power winger are expected to play Sunday when the Capitals host the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Backstrom had offseason left hip resurfacing surgery on a nagging injury that had hampered his ability to skate. He’s just the second NHL player to return from the operation, following Ed Jovanovski in 2014.

“I’m not going to put pressure on myself,” Backstrom said this week. “All I can say is I feel great, and the biggest thing for me is I have no pain, that I’m able to skate and move the way I want to. Hopefully that’s enough.”

Wilson underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee. He was injured in Game 1 of the Capitals’ first-round series against the Florida Panthers on May 3.

“My expectation is that I have to be where I was before,” Wilson said. “the only acceptable outcome. I want to be the player that I was before, so this whole process I’ve had that in mind and that’s been my goal.”

Two of the organization’s longest-tenured players have been rehabbing and ramping up to return for several months. Despite missing Backstrom, Wilson and Washington has rebounded from a slow start to move into a playoff position midway through the NHL season.

There has been a buzz around the locker room in recent weeks as Backstrom and Wilson started taking part in practices, shed no-contact jerseys and inched closer to playing again.

“To have those guys on the mend and on their way back is exciting,” said winger T.J. Oshie, who recently returned from a six-game injury absence. “There’s a lot of guys that have been working super hard to keep us in a solid position for when they get back, and I can’t say how good of a job everyone else has done with a lot of us being out for most of the season. It’ll be nice to get them back and have myself and them carry a little more of the load.”

To make room for their returns, the Capitals put Joe Snively on waivers and assigned fellow young forward Aliaksei Protas to Hershey of the American Hockey League. If Snively goes unclaimed and clears, he can be assigned to Hershey on Sunday.

To open up the necessary salary cap space, defenseman John Carlson, who is out after taking a puck to the face Dec. 23, went on long-term injured reserve. There is no timeframe for Carlson to come back.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Kyle Connor set a franchise record with his 41st game-winning goal, scoring on a power play at 5:38 of the third lead as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Friday night.

Connor’s record-setting goal moved him past Ilya Kovalchuk for the most winners in Jets-Atlanta Thrashers history.

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice and Morgan Barron helped seal Winnipeg’s fourth straight win, scoring short-handed into an empty net with 1:26 remaining.

Connor also had an assist. Josh Morrissey added three assists and Mark Scheifele two. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 shots.

Anthony Cirelli had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who finished a three-game trip with a 1-2-0 record. Tampa Bay is 9-9 on the road.

After missing two straight games with an illness, Andrei Vasilevsky stopped 16 of the 19 shots for Tampa Bay.

The Lightning outshot the Jets 12-4 in the first period, but the game was tied 1-all.

Cirelli scored at 11:48, converting a rebound off a Steven Stamkos shot to beat Hellebuyck.

With nine seconds remaining in the period, Dubois tipped in a wrist shot by Connor for his 18th goal of the season.

Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead at 1:35 of the second when Kucherov’s shot went through Hellebuyck’s pads.

Winnipeg went on an 87-second, two-man advantage at 6:05. The Jets capitalized, this time with Dubois getting a piece of Morrissey’s point shot at 7:05.

The Jets broke the tie with another two-man advantage after Stamkos was sent off for cross-checking at 4:34. Vladislav Namestnikov followed him six seconds later for delay of game.

Connor’s one-timer beat Vasilevsky on the glove side for his 17th of the season.

Stamkos had a great chance to tie it up with about six minutes remaining, but his shot ended up being swiped away from the goal line by Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo.

Connor was called for tripping with 1:52 left and Tampa Bay pulled Vasilevsky for the six-on-four, but Barron spoiled the attack.

MILESTONE MOMENTS

Two players and one coach marked milestones Friday.

Dubois played in his 400th NHL career game, while Kucherov skated in his 600th.

Jets head coach Rick Bowness, 67, was behind the bench for his NHL-record 2,600th game, including stints as a head coach, associate coach or assistant coach.

NOTES: The Jets returned four players from the injury list. Nikolaj Ehlers was back after missing 36 games. The forward was hurt in the second game of the season and had sports hernia surgery. Blake Wheeler returned after sitting out nine games following groin surgery. Veteran defenseman Nate Schmidt also missed nine games with an upper-body injury, while rookie forward Cole Perfetti was out five games with a shoulder injury.

UP NEXT

Jets: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.

Lightning: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.