Ryan Leonard scored his first NHL goal into an empty net last April, the same day that Alex Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky for the league’s all-time goals record.

While the moment was special — Gretzky congratulated Leonard personally — and the 20-year-old winger scored twice in the preseason, Leonard had yet to beat an actual NHL goalie in a regular-season game until besting Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin Saturday night on Long Island.

“Yeah, it was going in during the preseason,” Leonard said postgame. “I know I’m capable of doing it. It’s great to see it go in, though.”

Leonard’s goal, which ended up being the game-winner against New York, came at the 9:50 mark of the second period just as a Capitals power play expired. After a crazy net-front scramble, Jakob Chychrun recycled the puck and found Leonard in the high slot for a wicked wrister that deflected past Sorokin.

Leonard ended the night with his goal, two shots, five shot attempts, three individual scoring chances, one individual high-danger chance, and three hits. Head coach Spencer Carbery lined Leonard up on the team’s third line for a second straight game, playing him with Hendrix Lapierre and Anthony Beauvillier.

“I love playing with those two,” Leonard said. “They’re very easy to read off of, so going out there makes my job easy.”

Leonard played just 10:01 of ice time in the win, but Carbery admitted that the lack of additional time on ice was down to just situational coaching. Overall, the Capitals’ bench boss thought Leonard was effective in the 4-2 win.

“I thought he was good,” Carbery said. “Their line gets lost a little bit in the shuffle, and it’s because there’s some young guys on that line that I’m protecting late in the game when we’ve got to find a way to get a win under our belt early in the season. But I thought he was good.

“Overall, obviously didn’t play a ton in the third period, but he’s doing good things. Each and every game, he’s doing two, three, four things that are really, really high end. He’s making something happen. There’s mistakes involved in there, but that’s natural for a young player.”

Leonard will get an immediate chance to double his season total as the Capitals play the back half of a back-to-back against the New York Rangers on Sunday night. The matchup will be Leonard’s first career game against the Rangers and his first visit to Madison Square Garden.