Capitals' Alex Ovechkin and Bruins' Trent Frederic grab the spotlight in Zdeno Chara's return to Boston

Wednesday night's nationally televised Washington Capitals-Boston Bruins game was supposed to be all about Zdeno Chara.

Chara, the 6-foot-9 defenseman who was Bruins captain for 14 years, signed with the Capitals in the offseason after being told his ice time would be cut, and this was his first game back in Boston.

But as often happens, Capitals star Alex Ovechkin grabbed the spotlight.

Or in this case, Ovechkin and Boston's Trent Frederic.

Frederic, the rookie who led the Bruins with 26 penalty minutes heading into the game and had fought Washington's Tom Wilson earlier in the season, had a few memorable exchanges with Ovechkin as he defended against the NHL's No. 7 all-time leading goal scorer.

Frederic checked Ovechkin into the boards and the Washington winger threw a little swing at the Bruins forward. Frederic dropped his gloves to challenge him, but Ovechkin gave him a look and they skated away.

In the third period, Frederic stole the puck from Ovechkin and then cross-checked him a couple times. This time, Ovechkin had enough and delivered a painfully placed stick.

Both went to the penalty box for two minutes.

In the end, Chara had a good game. Though no fans were in the stands, he received a nice tribute video from the Bruins and stick taps from his former teammates in the first period. And his new team defeated his old team 2-1 in a shootout to increase the Capitals' East Division lead on the Bruins to three points.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Capitals' Alex Ovechkin has enough of Bruins' Trent Frederic