Capitals at Maple Leafs
THE STORY: The Washington Capitals travel to Toronto for the third of four meetings this season with the Maple Leafs on Saturday. Toronto won 7-1 at Air Canada Centre in the first meeting on Nov. 19 and Washington took the most recent matchup at home 4-2 on Dec. 9. The Maple Leafs have dropped three straight and seven of eight. The Capitals snapped a three-game losing skid Friday with a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Comcast (Washington), CBC (Toronto)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (30-26-5): Washington’s top prospect, Evgeny Kuznetsov, suffered a knee injury Friday during a Kontinental Hockey League game between his Traktor Chelyabinsk team and HC Spartak. Kuznetsov fell to the ice in pain and was slamming his hands in agony after taking a check. He had to be stretchered off the ice. The initial diagnosis is torn knee ligaments, according to the Sport-Express’ Slava Malamud. If the injury is serious, it might damper the team’s plans for next season and influence trade deadline moves.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (29-25-7): The Maple Leafs are 19-9-2 when scoring first this season. “The last few games we seemed to be falling behind and trying to come from behind,” captain Dion Phaneuf said. “And that’s tough in this league. It’s tough to win games and when you’re coming from behind it makes it that much tougher.” In each of the Maple Leafe's last five losses, they’ve fallen behind 2-0. Defenseman John-Michael Liles had four goals and 21 points in 34 games before suffering a head-and-neck injury. He has just one assist in 11 contests since returning from the injury.
OVERTIME:
1. Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul has five points in two games versus the Capitals this season (one goal, four assists).
2. Washington captain Alex Ovechkin returned after missing one game with a lower-body injury on Friday and scored his 25th goal of the season versus the Canadiens.
3. After being a healthy scratch in four of the last six games, Maple Leafs oft-injured forward Colby Armstrong is getting back into the lineup on Saturday. He has no goals and one assist in 16 games.