By Canadian Press

Woll backstops Maple Leafs to 4-1 win over Capitals

Oct 24, 2023 | 5:44 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his seventh goal of the season, Joseph Woll made 36 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs handed the Washington Capitals their fourth loss in five games, 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal this season and 823rd of his NHL career, moving 71 back of Wayne Gretzky’s record. Ovechkin, who would have tied a career-long season-opening goal drought if he hadn’t scored, had a game-high 14 shots, including a failed penalty shot.

Ovechkin’s offensive contribution on the power play came too late, well after an early goal was disallowed because the league ruled he interfered with Woll and with the Capitals trailing 4-0. Darcy Kuemper allowed four goals on the first 12 shots he faced and 17 overall.

Washington’s only win so far came in a shootout last week at home against Calgary.

Matthews’ goal was his first since back-to-back hat tricks to open the season. Morgan Rielly, John Tavares and William Nylander also scored for the Maple Leafs, who won for a fourth time in six games. 

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Rielly’s goal was the first by a Maple Leafs defenceman this season and the fifth time the Capitals gave up the first goal of the game. Tavares and Nylander extended their respective season-opening point streaks to six and became the third set of Toronto teammates to do that.

NOTES

Woll is the 170th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored against. … Ovechkin’s goal was his 300th on the power play and 3,000th in Capitals history, giving him 10 per cent of their franchise total. … With his 13th career penalty shot, Ovechkin tied Vinny Lecavalier for the most in league history. He fell to 2-for-13. 

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Make their fourth stop on a five-game road trip Thursday at the Dallas Stars.

Capitals: Goaltender Hunter Shepard is expected to make his NHL debut Wednesday at the New Jersey Devils.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press