NHL Recap: Washington Capitals beat Toronto Maple Leafs by 3-2
Mike Knuble lit the lamp in the fourth round of the shootout, as the Washington Capitals held on for a 3-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs, at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night.
Alex Ovechkin and John Erskine both also found the net for Washington, which has earned its fourth consecutive first-place finish and now stand on the first spot in the Eastern Conference with 105 points. Michal Neuvirth turned away 19 shots for the victory.
Nikolai Kulemin and Joffrey Lupul both recorded goals for Toronto, which has got 42 points for the eighth place in the Eastern Conference. James Reimer made 39 saves in the losing effort.
The Maple Leafs drew the first blood for 1-0 lead on a power-play nearly five and half minutes into the opening stanza. The goal came when Kulemin snaked through the high-slot with line-mates Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur going to the net. He then
faked a shot to fool Neuvirth and jammed the puck home for his 30th goal of the season.
The Capitals’ Ovechkin knotted the game at 1-1 with nearly eight and half minutes left in the first period. During a 5-on-3 advantage, Brooks Laich sent a nice pass to Ovechkin, who wired a point shot from the bottom of the left circle past goalie for his
31st of the season and 300th of his NHL career.
"It feels good. When you score 300 goals in six years, it's a big accomplishment. I play for a great team." Ovechkin said.
Lupul put Toronto on top, 2-1, nearly one and half minutes into the middle session. The play was set up by Phil Kessel, who swept a perfect cross-ice pass to Lupul, who tipped the puck into the net for his fifth goal in the previous seven games played during
the season.
Washington’s Erskine pulled the game even at 2-2 with nearly eight minutes remaining in the second period, as he ripped a wrist-shot from the left point that caromed off Luke Schenn's glove and went into the net.
The third period was goal-less, as Toronto's goal-tender, Reimer, stopped 14 shots to put the game into extra-session.
The Maple Leafs’ head coach, Ron Wilson, said, "What they'll have to show for it is the whole run and something to build on for next year...we pretty much have handled our own business over the last month or six weeks...in the last two weeks you've got to
give credit to Buffalo and the Rangers for getting the job done."
After a scoreless over-time, the Maple Leafs' Reimer made saves on Nicklas Backstrom and Matt Hendricks’s shots, while the Capitals' goal-tender, Neuvirth, stopped shots of Nazem Kadri and Kulemin. However, it was Knuble who sealed the victory for the Washington
Capitals at 3-2 in the sixth round of the shootout.
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