(Photo by Graig Abel/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2 on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.  The win stretched the Caps winning streak to five games, including winning both games of a back-to-back set this weekend.  The Capitals finished up a long stretch of games, their 3rd game in 4 nights and 7th game in 11 days.  The starting lines for the Capitals:

A gift from Grubi (Photo: @amirbageria)

Offensive Lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Beagle-Burakovsky
Laich-Latta-Wilson

Defensive Pairs:
Schmidt-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Orlov-Chorney

Braden Holtby got the call in net for the Capitals, playing for the second night in a row. When Holtby played two games in two nights last season, he was 4-3-1 with a .914 save percentage.  Jonathan Bernier got the start in net for the Leafs.  This was Bernier’s first start since November 15th, and second start in the month of November.

Brooks Orpik was once again scratched with a lower-body injury.  Chris Brown and Stanislav Galiev were the healthy scratches.

QUICK TAKES
The Capitals were sloppy in the first period, with 7 giveaways, and were out-shot 16-4 by the Leafs.  The Caps seemed to find their legs mid-way through the middle frame, scoring three goals in the second period.  The Capitals power play now has five goals in last five periods. Jason Chimera had another multi-point game, including his 7th goal, tying his total for all of last season.

Braden Holtby would need to go to work right away in this one, making several nice stops in the first three minutes.  Jason Chimera would score his 7th goal of the season at the 3:43 mark.

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The Maple Leafs would strike back quickly on a goal by Peter Holland at the 6:13 mark of the opening frame, assisted by Dion Phaneuf.

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The Leafs would own a majority of the offensive zone time in the first period, outshooting the Caps 16-4 for the period.  The Capitals had one shot on net in the final 13:43 of the 1st. Sloppy play plagued the Caps, including seven giveaways, one leading to the Leafs goal.

The Capitals would come out sluggish to start the second period, but Tom Wilson would score on a “spinoramma” shot at 4:06 to regain the lead for the caps.  Matt Niskanen and Michael Latta with the assists.

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The Leafs would once again tie it up within two minutes, this time on a power play goal by Leo Komarov, assisted by Dion Phaneuf at the 6:46 mark on the middle frame.

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Marcus Johansson would get the lead back for the Caps on a ricochet off of his leg.  This was Johansson’s second goal in as many nights that did not involve a stick.

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The Caps would stretch the lead to 4-2 on a power play goal by Justin Williams at the 13:26 mark of the second period.

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The period would end with Caps holding a 4-2 lead.   The Capitals power play now has five goals in last five periods.

The Capitals put the clamps down on the third period, as the final frame would go scoreless.