Photo: NHL/Getty Images

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 Saturday night at Navy-Marine Corp Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. The Capitals would strike for three goals in the first period (Kuznetsov, Ovechkin and Backstrom) to take a 3-1 lead into the first period intermission. The Capitals would add goals from John Carlson and Jakub Vrana to make it 5-2 at the second break. The third period would go scoreless as the Caps held on for the 5-2 win. The Capitals return to action Tuesday night against the Ducks in Anaheim. Puck drop is 10:00 p.m. EST. 

STARTERS
Braden Holtby (28-14-4, 3.02 GAA, .908 sv%) started between the pipes for the Capitals. Frederik Andersen (32-16-4, 2.67 GAA, .922 sv%) started in goal for the Maple Leafs. The Capitals starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the game:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Connolly-Eller-Burakovsky
Stephenson-Beagle-Smith Pelly
Defense
Orlov-Niskanen
Kempny-Carlson
Orpik-Djoos

Scratches: Alex Chiasson, Travis Boyd, Madison Bowey and Jakub Jerabek were the healthy scratches.

FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals would strike first with a power play goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov at 3:50 of the first period.

The Maple Leafs would quickly tie things up with a goal from Zach Hyman at 6:19 of the first period.

The Capitals would retake the lead a little over a minute later with a goal from Alex Ovechkin at 6:19, making it 2-1.

The Capitals would stretch their lead to 3-1 with a power play goal from Nicklas Backstrom at 16:20 of the opening frame.

The first period would end with the Capitals leading 3-1. The Capitals outshot the Maple Leafs 11-7 for the first 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD
The Maple Leafs would cut the Caps lead to one with a goal from Nazem Kadri at 7:22 of the middle frame.

But the Caps would get it right back. John Carlson would knock-home a Chandler Stephenson rebound at 8:05 of the second period, making it 3-2.

Jakub Vrana would make it 5-2 with a breakaway goal at 10:49 of the second period. The goal was setup by a nice feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Maple Leafs replaced Frederik Andersen with Curtis McElhinney in goal.

The second period would conclude with the Capitals leading 5-2. Washington outshot Toronto 18-12 for the middle frame.

THIRD PERIOD
After a scoreless first ten minutes of the final frame, a power failure was incurred at the stadium, causing a 20 minute delay in the action.

The Capitals would run out the clock and secure the 5-2 win.

SHAVINGS

• Capitals are now 3-0 in outdoor games.
• Alex Ovechkin moved within two goals of 600 in his career as he became the 6th player in NHL history to record nine 40-goal seasons.
• 29,516 fans took in tonight’s game in Annapolis, bringing total attendance at the NHL’s 25 regular-season outdoor games to 1,313,613.
• Caps will be off on Sunday and will practice on Monday at 10:30 am at Kettler.
• The NHL box score is here.

SCENES FROM ANNAPOLIS

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