Quick-Starting Capitals Blow Away Leafs

With a chance to finally play an extended stretch of their schedule at home, the Capitals opened up a three-game homestand by blowing out the Maple Leafs, thanks to a five-point night by Alexander Ovechkin and a pair of goals by Mike Knuble.

After the Caps went ahead in the first minute on Ovechkin's 29th tally of the year, Jose Theodore made some early saves - and got some help from the pipes - alowing Washington to take the season series (2-1-1) from the Leafs with a 6-1 win after dropping a pair in Toronto.

Catching a Leafs team that shut out Philadelphia the night before but had to cross the border and deal with the customs issues that Washington had visiting Air Canada Centre twice this season, the Capitals had little trouble denting Vesa Toskala, potting four of their first 17 shots en route to the win.

Unlike the last two games, the Caps jumped in front early, as Ovechkin got his 29th of the season, breaking down and beating Toskala for a 1-0 lead just :49 into the contest.

Toronto nearly tied it up just over three minutes later, as Nicklas Hagman had Theodore beat, but hit the post to keep the Caps in front. Toronto then had another golden chance with 4:29 gone as Lee Stempniak buried a feed from Ian White, but the net had been dislodged when Tom Poti knocked Jason Blake into the cage, resulting in a Washington penalty but Toronto's golden chance was nullified.

Unfortunately, just seven seconds after the Capitals successfully killed the Poti delay-of-game minor, Nicklas Backstrom was whistled for a boarding call in the defensive zone and Toronto went back to the power play.

But despite a big shot advantage for Toronto thanks to the two power plays, Theodore held the Leafs off the scoreboard, and the Capitals were able to boost their lead before the period would down.

During a delayed penalty, the Capitals had some sustained pressure, and Eric Fehr, after missing a golden opportunity just a minute before, redirected an Ovechkin drive past Toskala for a 2-0 lead with 2:09 left in the frame.

Toronto had a good chance to cut the lead after Francois Beauchamin hit the post, but the Caps broke down the other way and Knuble knocked in an Ovechkin feed for a 3-0 lead 4:03 into the frame.

The Caps then got a chance with the power-play, and scored on a ridiculous passing play, as Backstrom fed Ovechkin in the face-off circle, then who fed Semin with a backhand pass, who then returned the puck to Ovechkin by the cage - and after the star hit the post, Knuble knocked in the loose puck for a 4-0 lead 6:48 into the period.

Toronto did get on the board before the period was out, as Tomas Kaberle shot from the point on a power play past a screened Theodore to make it 4-1 with 1:23 left in the second. The Leafs appeared to cut it to 4-2 with :34.7 left, but Matt Stajan's tally was negated by an unneccessary Alexei Ponikarovsky high stick on Green and the Caps held their three-goal lead into the second intermission.

In the third, the Capitals played back a bit more, content to play with the lead. However, with a power-play, the Caps upped the lead to 5-1, as Tomas Fleischmann tipped in an Ovechkin shot for an insurance goal 6:47 into the final period.

With his four assists and early goal, Ovechkin had his fourth career five-point night - and his first-ever four-assist effort - and also vaulted into second in the NHL's points race, moving just a pair of points behind Henrik Sedin's 64 in the Art Ross chase.

Tom Poti then capped the scoring with 8:54 to play, taking a feed from a circling Alexander Semin and firing one past Toskala for a 6-1 score.

Things got chippy in the latter stages, as Shaone Morrisonn took exception to a Colton Orr hit on Green, dropping the gloves and leading to an altercation with six minutes to play.

Jason Chimera also got into a scrap with Jay Rosehill in front of the Toronto bench with 2:34 to play. The Leafs got an extended 5-on-3 in the closing minutes thanks to Chimera's instigating call and a penalty on Boyd Gordon, but the Caps killed it off to preserve the five-goal edge.

The Capitals' torrid scoring pace continues as well, as Washington now has 22 goals (not including the shootout tallies in Florida) in its last four games, with the NHL's most potent team having scored more than six goals twice in that span.

Washington continues their homestand Sunday afternoon when the Flyers pay a visit to Verizon Center. Philadelphia, having last played Thursday night in its shutout loss to Toronto, will look to continue its otherwise solid play of late having won four of five.