Capitals 7 Maple Leafs 1

The Capitals dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs last night in a 7-1 win. The win snaps a two game skid for the Caps and was the second 7-1 defeat at home for the Leafs. The Caps scored first with a Boyd Gordon backhander at 3:19 of the first period. That was quickly followed by a Toronto goal from Alexei Ponikarovsky at 3:50. From there it was all Caps. After goals from Matt Pettinger, Alex Ovechkin, and Jeff Schultz, Toronto pulled starting goalie Vesa Toskala for Andrew Raycroft at 13:56 of the first. In the second Matt Bradley scored shorthanded and Ovechkin on the power play. Brian Sutherby playing in his second game this season finished the scoring with a third period goal. The Caps record improves to 5-6-0 and they head to New York to play the Rangers on Thursday.

Of Note:

• Jeff Schultz goal was the first in his NHL career. It only took him all of 44 games to get it. Congrats to Jeff.
• Matt Bradley scored his first career shorthanded goal. He blasted a slap shot from the top of the left wing circle past Toronto goalie Andrew Raycroft.
• Alex Ovechkin is on a streak of 4 consecutive multiple point games. In the 4 games he has 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points.
• In addition to Schultz, Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon, Matt Pettinger, and Brian Sutherby all scored their first goals of the season last night.
• Six Capitals recorded multiple point nights; Michal Nylander (3A), Bradley (1G, 2A), Ovechkin (2G), Gordon (1G, 1A), Pettinger (1G, 1A), and Viktor Kozlov (2A)
• The power play scored 2 times on 5 chances and the penalty kill did not allow a goal in 5 attempts.
• Olie Kolzig had a strong outing with 32 saves on 33 shots including a sprawling glove save 1-on-1 against former Cap Bates Battaglia.
• The Caps were out shot by Toronto 33-30 and won only 24 of 55 face-offs.
• For the season the overall goal differential for the Capitals is +1. Last season after 11 games it -3. A modest improvement.

Official Recap
Game Summary
Super Stats