Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Championship Sunday
After snapping a six-game home winning run with a defeat to Ottawa, the Toronto Maple Leafs (2nd in Atlantic Division) will try to get back to winning ways while hosting the Washington Capitals (4th in Metropolitan), who just triumphed for the first time in three fixtures.
The Washington Capitals (26-19-6) snapped an overall two-game losing skid (0-2-0) and a separate two-game slide on own ice (0-2-0) after banking a 3-2 shootout victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena on Thursday. Alex Ovechkin (32 goals, 54 points this year) and Marcus Johansson (13 goals, 25 points) both tallied in regulation, while Evgeny Kuznetsov (6 goals, 41 points) and Nicklas Backstrom (4 assists, 4 points) lit the lamp during the skills competition, which the Caps won in three rounds with two strikes to one after witnessing their 1-0 and 2-1 leads wiped out in second and third periods respectively. Washington is 3-5-0 in its last eight fixtures.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper made 35 saves throughout regulation and overtime on Thursday, further stopping two of Pittsburgh’s three attempts during the shootou t. He is 15-13-4 for the ongoing campaign with a 2.54 GAA and a .917 save percentage, and has registered a 3-2-0 career tally against the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 2.50 GAA and a .909 save percentage. The Capitals, meanwhile, are netting the 16th highest amount of goals per game this season (3.14), while allowing the 10th lowest quantity on the defensive end (2.78). They are 20th in power play with a 20.5% conversion rate and 7th in penalty kill with 81.8% proficiency.