TORONTO — Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin stood at the lectern at the Hockey Hall of Fame on Wednesday afternoon, but he wanted the spotlight to be on his teammate Tom Wilson, the hometown boy.

Growing up in Toronto, Wilson had visited the Hall of Fame often, for birthday parties or just to appreciate the history, and Ovechkin spent most of his speech talking about how happy he was for Wilson to be memorialized there. This visit was more triumphant than those as a kid, a Stanley Cup champion there to represent the Capitals as they donated their commemorative ring for a display.

Wilson’s victory tour continued a night later, with the winger starring in the Capitals’ 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’d come here as a boy, too, and these days he elicits boos whenever his name is called. That happened twice on Thursday, first for an assist he got an Brett Connolly’s goal and then for the short-handed tally he added in the third period to seal the result for the Capitals.

“It's kind of fun,” Wilson said. “If you told me as a kid that I'd be getting booed here one day, I'd be OK with it. It's pretty special every time I play here.”

Wilson has 16 goals through 42 games, and all of the attributes that make him so important to Washington were on display Thursday. His physicality created Connolly’s goal, but he flashed his skill and speed, the less talked about qualities, on his snipe.

With Washington up two goals entering the third period, third-line center Lars Eller got kicked out of the faceoff circle, and then Connolly lost the defensive-zone draw to Toronto’s Auston Matthews. Matthews carried the puck around the back of the net, and his wraparound shot rebounded off goaltender Braden Holtby’s pads and right to Maple Leafs forward Andreas Johnsson, who punched it in to trim Washington’s lead to 2-1.

Less than two minutes later, Capitals defenseman John Carlson was penalized for hooking, giving the Maple Leafs’ an opportunity to draw even on the power play. But then Eller swiped the puck away from Johnsson and sped up the ice with Wilson following for a two-on-one. Eller fed Wilson in the high slot, and Wilson beat Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen to restore Washington’s two-goal cushion.

isabelle.khurshudyan@washpost.com

twitter.com/ikhurshudyan