Maple Leafs buzz through Capitals for 5-1 win Maple Leafs keep pace in Atlantic with win

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In Toronto, the Maple Leafs hit for five goals in a 5-1 thumping of the visiting Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

Tyler Bertuzzi hit for a double in the win.

“That was big for us,” Bertuzzi said. “Really good first period. Big goal by [Mark Giordano] to get us going and we didn’t let off the gas and played a good full 60 (minutes).”

Joseph Woll made 24 saves in the win.

The Maple Leafs improved to 41-22-9, snapping a two-game skid.

“The team played great, made my job pretty easy tonight,” Woll said. “I thought we did a good job all the way throughout the game. That’s the kind of response you want to see from our team.”

The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza on a strike by Mark Giordano midway through the period.

The goal snapped a 30-game goal drought.

“You just feel good for him,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It’s a big goal. It’s funny how these things work out. He comes to the rink this morning. ‘Gio’ wasn’t supposed to play. … As we know, Gio is the ultimate professional, he’s worked extremely hard to get back and be ready. He’s been through a lot and for that to go his way, post and in and all that, that was great.”

The Capitals dropped to 36-27-9, ending a three-game streak.

“From the start of the game, you could feel that our group was overwhelmed early on,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Just with the speed of the game, the way things were happening, you could see a bunch of puck touches where we bobble it. We were fighting it early. It was just too quick for us tonight.

“It’s a really hard matchup for us because they’re so fast. We struggle with really good skating teams that can put you on your heels. It’s just not a strength of our team.”

The Caps are still two points clear of the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, Detroit lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-0, on Thursday.

In the middle frame, Bertuzzi picked up his first of the game with 18 seconds gone for a 2-0 lead to the Leafs.

The Caps got that one back on a strike by Nic Dowd at 5:27 to trim the deficit to 2-1.

Toronto replied with a marker from Connor Dewar at 11:38 for a 3-1 lead. He scored off a backhand shot from down low.

“Quite honestly one of my favorite goals of the season,” Keefe said. “That’s a coach’s goal in a lot of ways. … I thought in that particular point in the game, we were spending a little too much time in our end, but those guys (Dewar, David Kampf and Ryan Reaves) drove the puck down the ice, took care of it, scored a huge goal. That’s a big goal in the game to make it a two-goal game.”

In the third period, the Leafs padded the lead with another pair of goals.

Bobby McMann extended the lead to 4-1 with 68 seconds gone in the period. He scored off an odd man rush.

Bertuzzi collected his double midway through the third for the 5-1 final.

“Puck luck is a big part of it,” Keefe said. “Like today he gets one from below the goal line. I mean, he couldn’t get one from above the goal line wide open with empty nets before. Now they’re going in for him, but he’s worked and continued to put himself in good spots. … I’ve maintained all the way through this that ‘Bert’ is going to be a very important player for us.”

Charlie Lindgren made 43 saves  in the loss.

“We were just a little sleepy tonight on a lot of plays,” the Capitals’ T.J. Oshie said. “We’re not a team that can play without guys getting the puck and moving their feet. We’re not a team that can have success if we’re not keeping things simple and moving the puck quickly, and we are certainly not a team that can turn pucks over in the neutral zone. We did all those things not very well tonight.”