Capitals Burn Maple Leafs, 5-2; Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, Jakob Chychrun, Nic Dowd And Andrew Mangiapane Score

photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals downed the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2, Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Logan Thompson stopped 35 of 37 shots faced in the win. The victory improves the Capitals record to 24-9-2 (50 points) on the season.

Washington becomes the fourth team to reach the 50-point mark this season, doing so in 35 games. It marks the fourth fewest games needed to record 50 points in franchise history.

The Maple Leafs opened the scoring with a fluky goal from John Tavares but the Capitals answered with tallies from Andrew Mangiapane and Jakob Chychrun for a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.

The Maple Leafs tied the game early in the middle frame before Nic Dowd notched his 9th goal for the season to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead at the second intermission.

The Capitals extended their lead to 4-2 with a deflected goal by Tom Wilson late in the final frame. Alex Ovechkin added a late empty net tally to make it 5-2, the final.


LINEUP

Logan Thompson (12-2-2, 2.40 GAA, .914 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Capitals. Matt Murray (1-0-0, 3.00 GAA, .889 sv%) got the start in net for the Maple Leafs. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane – Hendrix Lapierre — Jakub Vrana
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Taylor Raddysh

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson

Scratched: Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev.

Injured: Lars Eller (illness), Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).


1ST PERIOD

The Maple Leafs opened the scoring with a tally from John Tavares (18) at 3:14 off the initial frame. S. Benoit (4) and M. Pacioretty (7) had the helpers.

The Capitals quickly returned fire, as they have done so often this season. Andrew Mangiapane (8) tied the game at 4:46 of the first period. Hendrix Lapierre (8) had the lone helper.

The Capitals took their first lead of the night on Jakob Chychrun’s tenth goal of the season at 8:54 of the opening stanza. Trevor van Riemsdyk (12) and Taylor Raddysh (12) had the assists.

While leading, 2-1, Logan Thompson snatched a goal from William Nylander late in the period.

The period concluded with the Capitals holding on to the 2-1 lead. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 24-19. The Maple Leafs led in expected goals for, 1.27 to 0.82 in the first 20 minutes.


2ND PERIOD

The Maple Leafs tied the game at 11:50 of the middle frame on a rush and finish by Bobby McMann (10). Max Domi (10), Mitch Marner (37) were credited with the helpers.

But once again, the Capitals quickly responded. This time Nic Dowd (9) dented the twine at 9:53. Rasmus Sandin (11) and Andrew Mangiapane (6) had the helpers.

The second period concluded with the Capitals holding the 3-2 lead. The Maple Leafs led in five-on-five shot attempts, 25-24, and expected goals for 1.22 to 0.90, for the period.


3RD PERIOD

The Capitals extended their lead to 4-2 with a deflected goal by Tom Wilson late in the final frame. Jakob Chychrun (13) and Dylan Strome (28) had the assists.

Alex Ovechkin added an empty net goal late to make it 5-2. Aliaksei Protas (16) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (22) had the helpers. Ovechkin has scored 25 goals in 30 career road games against the Maple Leafs.

Ovechkin (869g in 1,445 GP) is 26 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky (894g in 1,487 GP) for the most goals in NHL history.

That was the final.


SHAVINGS (Via Capitals PR)

  • Andrew Mangiapane scored his eighth goal of the season to tie the game 1-1. The Toronto, Ontario native has scored six of his eight goals on the road.
  • Hendrix Lapierre recorded the primary assist on Mangiapane’s goal, marking his eighth assist of the season. Lapierre has tallied two assists in his last three games played.
  • Jakob Chychrun scored his 10th goal of the season to put the Capitals ahead 2-1. Chychrun becomes the third defensemen in the NHL to reach the 10-goal mark this season (Zach Werenski: 11g; Cale Makar: 11g).
  • Per @PR_NHL, Chychrun (10g in 30 GP) became the fastest defensemen to score his first 10 goals with the franchise, beating the previous mark held by Larry Murphy (40 GP in 1983-84).
  • Trevor van Riemsdyk tallied his 12th assist of the season on Washington’s second goal. van Riemsdyk’s 12 assists are tied for the second most among Capitals defensemen, trailing only John Carlson (20a).
  • Nic Dowd scored his ninth goal of the season to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead. Dowd, who recorded two points (1g, 1a) against the Maple Leafs on Dec. 6, has scored a goal in his last five games at Scotiabank Arena dating back to April 14, 2022.
  • Rasmus Sandin recorded the primary assist on Dowd’s goal, his 11th assist of the season. Sandin, who was originally drafted by Toronto in the first round (29th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft, has tallied two assists in three games against the Maple Leafs this season.
  • Andrew Mangiapane earned his sixth assist of the season on Washington’s third goal. With a goal and an assist tonight, Mangiapane has recorded his second multi-point performance of the season (also 11/9/24 at STL: 2a).
  • Tom Wilson scores his 14th goal of the season to extend Washington’s lead to 4-2. Wilson’s 14 goals rank tied for third on the Capitals (Connor McMichael: 16g; Alex Ovechkin: 15g; Aliaksei Protas: 14g).
  • Aliaksei Protas registered the primary assist on Ovechkin’s goal, his 16th assist of the season. Protas (14g-16a–30p in 35 GP) has established a new single-season career high in points (previously 2023-24: 6g-23a–29p in 78 GP).
  • Logan Thompson stopped 35 of 37 shots faced (.946 Sv%) against Toronto. Thompson improves to 14-2-2 on the season. Thompson (14 wins in 18 GP) ranks tied for eighth in the NHL in wins. Every goaltender ranked ahead of him has played at least 23 games.
  • Washington has allowed two or fewer goals against in eight of its last 11 games.

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.

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