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Four-Goal Second Period Helps Toronto Torch Capitals, 5-1, In Tavares’ 1,000th Game; Backstrom Scores First Goal Of Season

By Harrison Brown·
Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 5-1 at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday evening as their lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have three games in hand on them, for the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference remains at one point. Washington also has a two-point lead over the Buffalo Sabres (three) in the wild-card race.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves on 20 shots (.800 save percentage) in the loss before Charlie Lindgren, who stopped six of seven (.857), took the net with 5:40 left in the second period.

Capitals’ Lines at Toronto

Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – T.J. Oshie
Sonny Milano – Nicklas Backstrom – Marcus Johansson
Anthony Mantha – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Conor Sheary
Nicolas Aube-Kubel – Lars Eller – Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson – Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov – Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin – Martin Fehervary

Kuemper
Lindgren

Scratched: D Alexander Alexeyev, C Aliaksei Protas

Injured: D John Carlson (face, missed 16th straight game, out indefinitely); RW Connor Brown (ACL, 48th, indefinite); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 52nd, indefinite); C Nic Dowd (lower-body, sixth, indefinite); RW Tom Wilson (lower-body, second, day-to-day)

Washington made no line changes from their 3-2 shootout win over Pittsburgh on Thursday. Head coach Peter Laviolette tied former Toronto head coach Pat Quinn for the 12th-most games coached in NHL history and coached his 1,400th career game.

Toronto’s Lines

Michael Bunting — John Tavares — Mitch Marner
Calle Jarnkrok — Alexander Kerfoot — William Nylander
Pierre Engvall— David Kampf — Joey Anderson
Zach Aston-Reese — Pontus Holmberg — Wayne Simmonds

Morgan Rielly — T.J. Brodie
Mark Giordano — Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin — Timothy Liljegren

Ilya Samsonov
Joseph Woll

Scratched: D Connor Timmins, D Jordie Benn

Injured: C Auston Matthews (knee sprain, second, week-to-week); D Jake Muzzin (cervical spine, 46th, indefinite); C Nick Robertson (shoulder, 23rd, season); G Matt Murray (ankle, second, indefinite), D Victor Mete (upper-body, 24th, indefinite)

Tavares played his 1,000th career NHL game on Sunday.

First Period

Scoring

17:17, 1-0 Washington (PPG): Backstrom received a feed by Johansson from down low and ripped a wrister over the arm of Samsonov, who was screened by Johansson in front, at the right dot for his first goal of the season. Eight of Johansson’s 13 helpers this season have come on the man advantage.

Shots: 10-7 Toronto

Other Notable Stats: Each team earned four takeaways but Washington led 11-8 in hits and Toronto, who won 67% of the faceoffs, held a 7-6 advantage in blocked shots.

Second Period

Scoring

1:29, 1-1 (PPG): Bunting tapped a rebound in front that slid through the legs of Jensen to the left post after Kuemper turned aside Tavares’ wrister from the slot.

7:00, 2-1 Toronto: Reilly snapped a shot under the crossbar after Tavares shoveled a puck out of a board battle and sent the puck right to Reilly on the backhand in front of the net.

10:45, 3-1: Nylander backhanded a rebound through the wickets of Kuemper after Gustafsson broke up a three-on-one passing play and Bunting got a stick on the puck to put it in Kuemper’s wheelhouse.

14:20, 4-1: Engvall wristed a shot to the top corner on Kuemper glove-side after circling the curling down the offensive zone and getting a feed by Brodie from the top. Kuemper was pulled in favor of Lindgren after the goal.

Shots: 23-19 Toronto (including 13-12 in the second)

Other Notable Stats: Toronto won 58% of the faceoffs and led 9-5 in takeaways. Washington, who had three power plays in the first 40 minutes, led 33-19 in hits. Each team earned eight giveaways.

Third Period

Scoring

16:47, 5-1: Aston-Reese was sent in on a breakaway, went to the backhand, and put one into a wide open net after Nylander sent him in behind Gustafsson.

Shots: 27-24 Toronto (but 5-4 Washington in the third)

Other Notable Stats: Toronto led 14-8 in blocked shots, 12-6 in takeaways, and scored once on two power plays. Washington, who finished with four power play opportunities, led 40-28 in hits. Both teams tallied 10 giveaways.

Next game: Tuesday at Columbus Blue Jackets (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown