Capitals snap Maple Leafs’ 4-game win streak, 4-1

TORONTO (AP) — Lars Eller and Kevin Shattenkirk gave Washington a two-goal lead halfway through the game, and the Capitals cruised to a 4-1 win over Toronto on Tuesday night, snapping the Maple Leafs’ four-game winning streak.

Nate Schmidt and Tom Wilson also scored for Washington and Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots. The Capitals, winners of eight of their last nine, moved closer to clinching the top spot in the Eastern Conference and the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best record. However, Pittsburgh’s win over Columbus prevented them from doing so.

Mitch Marner scored his 19th of the season, spoiling Grubauer’s shutout bid with a power-play goal with 1:08 to go. Curtis McElhinney finished with 34 saves for the Maple Leafs, who lost for just the second time in nine games.

Toronto lost center Brian Boyle to an upper-body injury, possibly from a hard collision with Wilson in the first period.

The Capitals beat the Maple Leafs for the seventh time in their last eight meetings and are 10-2-1 in the last 13 matchups. The first two games this season were tight — Toronto won 4-2 here on Nov. 26 and Washington won 6-5 in overtime at home on Jan. 3 — but the Capitals were in control in this one.

Washington spent a lot of time in the offensive zone in the first and Eller scored with 5:26 remaining in the opening period as he took a feed from Andre Burakovsky and sent a shot from near the right faceoff spot that took a deflection off a Toronto skate.

The Leafs came out with considerably more bite to open the second period and pressed the Washington goal. But the Caps weathered the storm and doubled their lead on Shattenkirk’s power-play goal at the 10-minute mark. It was Shattenkirk’s 12th of the year and first with the Capitals, and gave Washington its 36th power-play score in their last 40 games.

Alex Ovechkin got an assist on the play, moving him into sole possession of second place among Russian-born players on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. He came into the game tied with Alexander Mogilny with 1,032 points and trailing Sergei Federov by 147 points for first place.

Washington played a controlled third period with Grubauer mopping up when needed. Schmidt, a late replacement for the injured John Carlson (lower body), added to the lead at 8:11 coming in from the point with little opposition to snap a shot past McElhinney.

Wilson made it 4-0 with a nifty deke with 3:14 left after being sent in alone by former Leafs player Daniel Winnik.

NOTES: It was the 100th NHL game for Leafs forward William Nylander. … Ovechkin has 60 points (33 goals, 27 assists) in 42 career games against the Maple Leafs.

UP NEXT

Capitals: Host the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

Maple Leafs: Host Tampa Bay on Thursday night.

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