WASHINGTON (AP) — As his Washington Capitals teammates chased shutout king Peter Budaj, backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped all 38 shots he faced to beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-0 on Sunday.
The Capitals snapped the Kings’ winning streak at five and Budaj’s shutout streak at 147:21. Washington has won three consecutive games and leads the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference by seven points.
Lars Eller, Marcus Johansson, Brett Connolly, T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams scored for the Capitals, who are also five points up on the Minnesota Wild in the Presidents’ Trophy race. Despite being outshot 38-20, they were opportunistic on offense and leaned on Grubauer to stymie the Kings on the way to his third shutout of the season.
Budaj, who leads the NHL with seven shutouts, was pulled after allowing four goals on 15 shots in two periods. He stopped all 39 he faced in his previous two starts.
The Kings went back to Budaj for back-to-back afternoon starts after he won in overtime Saturday in Philadelphia. The Capitals cracked him early on Eller’s goal 3:16 in that was more a result of a defensive breakdown by Los Angeles leading scorer Jeff Carter and defensemen Derek Forbort and Alec Martinez.
Johansson was similarly wide open for his goal at 18:12 of the first period, and Connolly was all alone for a semi-breakaway on his 10th of the season 3:43 into the second. Connolly has already scored more goals through 39 games this season than he did in 71 games last year with the Boston Bruins and is two shy of his career high.
Adding insult to injury, Oshie’s shot for his top-shelf goal 16:24 into the second period hit Budaj’s water bottle, knocking the cap off and making water fly into the air. It was that kind of day for Budaj, who hadn’t allowed more than three goals since Jan. 9 and gave way to Jeff Zatkoff to start the third.
Budaj is the sixth goalie the Capitals have knocked out of a game this season. Making just his second appearance in 12 games, Zatkoff stopped four of the five shots he faced, allowing Williams’ 18th goal of the season when the Kings left their former winger wide open in front.
NOTES: Oshie’s goal was the pending unrestricted free agent’s 20th of the season. … The Kings put C Jordan Nolan on injured reserve with a lower-body injury suffered Wednesday. … Alex Ovechkin was honored before the game for recording his 1,000th point last month. NHL senior vice president Jim Gregory presented him with a Tiffany crystal, while Capitals owner Ted Leonsis gave Ovechkin a gold stick. During the ceremony, Leonsis held up a cutout of Ovechkin’s head that was given to all fans.
UP NEXT
Kings: Travel to Florida to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday in their third stop on a four-game road trip.
Capitals: Look to make it four in a row when they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, the teams’ second meeting in just over two weeks.
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Follow Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno .
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