Capitals star Alex Ovechkin was lost to an upper-body injury. Blue Jackets forward Derick Brassard and defenseman Fedor Tyutin nursed hand/wrist injures. Defenseman Mike Commodore played despite a pre-existing condition, a charley horse.

Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock was still awaiting medical reports on two or three other players after a night of hard hits and nasty slashes. But the Jackets' mental well-being, bruised by recent blown leads, appears on the mend.

The Blue Jackets rallied twice from third-period deficits before forward R.J. Umberger capped a wild evening with power-play goal 1:45 into overtime for a 5-4 victory. They forced OT with a Raffi Torres re-direction of a Brassard pass with 23 seconds remaining in regulation and goaltender Steve Mason off the ice for an extra attacker.

"Tonight, you saw the fight in our team that was there last year," said Umberger, who scored twice. "In the past week, you saw some quit in our team. We would give up a couple goals and the bench would drop.

"Tonight, we stayed very positive on the bench. Nobody was saying, 'Why us?' We just kept coming."

The Jackets entered the third period protecting a 2-1 lead, but saw the Capitals gain advantages of 3-2 and 4-3. It's a familiar scenario for the Jackets, who squandered multiple-goal leads in three of the past six games.

"We needed one of these," Hitchcock said. "We have had it happen to us all year and to have it turn the other way was a good sign."

The Jackets were so banged up and fatigued in the final minutes that Hitchcock changed goalies just to buy his players a couple of seconds of extra rest. Backup Mathieu Garon played 1 minute, 31 seconds before Mason returned.

"That was quick thinking by Hitch and it really paid off," Mason said.

The Jackets' resiliency was perhaps best embodied by Brassard. He took a slash from Mike Knuble to the right hand or wrist with 2:24 left and the Capitals leading 4-3.

As the Jackets pressed for the equalizer, Brassard came off the bench, barely able to squeeze his stick, he said. From the right point, he wired a diagonal pass to Torres standing just to the left of goalie Jose Theodore.

Torres, who also scored a third-period wrap-around goal, guided the puck into the net, stunning a red-clad crowd of 18,227 fans.

"Sometimes, you have to do things you are not comfortable doing," Brassard said.

In overtime, Jackets forward Jake Voracek drove to the net and drew an interference penalty on Brian Pothier at 1:33, setting up a 4-on-3 advantage. Umberger won the faceoff, went to the net and absorbed three whacks from defenseman Tom Poti before taking a perfect Rick Nash pass from the right corner.

"Nasher told me before the faceoff that if he got the puck that I should put my stick in the crease, I swear to God, and he put it there," Umberger said.

Some call their shots, Nash apparently calls his assists. The captain finished with a goal and two assists.

Mason turned aside 32 shots.

Meanwhile, Ovechkin, the two-time reigning NHL MVP, was injured early in the second period after he was involved in a scrum with Jason Chimera and Jared Boll. Minutes later, he collided with Torres and left the ice flexing his left shoulder.

treed@dispatch.com