Caps deny Leafs chance to clinch playoffs
TORONTO -- Philip Grubauer stopped 27 shots and lost his bid for his fourth shutout of the season in the final two minutes as the Washington Capitals defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Tuesday night.
The Capitals (53-18-8) moved closer to clinching first place in the Eastern Conference with their second win in a row.
The Maple Leafs (39-25-15) had their four-game winning streak stopped and failed on the chance to clinch a playoff spot.
Lars Eller, Kevin Shattenkirk, Nate Schmidt and Tom Wilson scored for the Capitals. Brett Connolly added two assists for Washington.
Mitch Marner scored Toronto's goal on a power play at 18:52 of the third period. It was his 19th goal of the season.
Grubauer had only three shots to handle in the first period although the Maple Leafs picked up the pace in the second period.
Curtis McElhinney made 34 stops in the Toronto goal.
Washington took the lead at 14:34 of the first period on the 12th goal of the season by Eller on a shot from the left faceoff circle, converting a pass from Andre Burakovsky.
The Capitals outshot the Maple Leafs 13-3 in the first period.
Washington took a 2-0 lead at 10:00 of the second period on the 12th goal of the season by Shattenkirk.
The power-play goal came on a shot from the left circle after a cross-ice pass from Nicklas Backstrom. Marner was serving a holding-the-stick penalty.
Washington had a 26-13 advantage in shots on goal after two periods.
Schmidt scored his third goal of the season from the high slot at 8:11 of the third period.
Wilson broke in alone to score his seventh goal of the season on a backhand at 16:46 of the third.
NOTES: Maple Leafs C Brian Boyle (upper-body injury) left the game in the first period and did not return. ...Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin said he intends to represent Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics after the NHL announced Monday that it will not interrupt the 2017-18 schedule to allow players to participate in the PyeongChang Games. "I think everybody wants to play there, and it's the biggest opportunity in your life to play in the Olympic Games," Ovechkin said Tuesday. "So I don't know. Somebody going to tell me don't go, I don't care. I just go." ... Tuesday was the third and final meeting between the teams. The Maple Leafs won 4-2 Nov. 26 in Toronto and the Capitals won 6-5 in overtime Jan. 3 at Washington. ...The Maple Leafs will play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at the Air Canada Centre. ...The Capitals will play the New York Rangers on Wednesday at the Verizon Centre.