ANNAPOLIS, Maryland – The Washington Capitals have heard rumors of what might await them after this post season if they don’t compete for the Stanley Cup.
Perhaps that is starting to drive their efforts of late.
In the 2018 Stadium Series match with the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday night, the Caps made quick work of the effort and broke out to a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Alex Ovechkin (40th), Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom broke the game open in the first period for Washington en route to a 5-2 win.
Braden Holtby made 27 saves to pick up the win.
“This was a good game,” Caps head coach Barry Trotz said. “It was a big game and a big stage, obviously, against a very good team that’s probably the hottest I think since probably the All-Star break. I thought we did the right things. We were skating. We were putting pressure on the puck. We had people in the right areas and we were committed in the right areas.”
The Caps improved to 37-21-7 with the win and stretched their lead in the Metropolitan Division to two points.
The Leafs got goals from Zach Hyman and Nazem Kadri and were never really in the game.
“[The Capitals] look at us and they still think we’re kids,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “And it looked like we were kids out there tonight. I thought they smacked us around and forechecked us. I didn’t think we executed at all.”
John Carlson and Jakub Vrana scored in the second period.
Turnovers were a killer for the Maple Leafs as the Caps took advantage of seemingly every small mistake by Toronto.
“We turned the puck over,” Babcock said. “You can’t turn the puck over in the National Hockey League. Maybe you can get away with that in other leagues, but in the National Hockey League you can’t.”
[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Capitals highlights | RELATED: Complete NHL Stadium Series coverage]
Frederik Andersen got the start and allowed all five Caps’ goals before being given the hook in the middle frame.
“It was going in,” Babcock said. “I didn’t want to leave him in there and have a bunch more going in.”
Curtis McElhinney mopped up and made nine saves in relief; Andersen made 20 saves.
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