Grubauer, Capitals hold off Senators to get back into first

WASHINGTON-- Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice, and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves in his fourth consecutive win for the Washington Capitals, who defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Tom Wilson scored for Washington (36-21-7), which moved back into first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals, who lost 5-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, are one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers.

"This group has been resilient in terms of bounce backs and finding ways," Washington coach Barry Trotz said. "This has been a tough stretch here the last little while because of the travel and the number of games and the quality of teams we've played every night."
WATCH: [All Senators vs. Capitals highlights]
The Capitals next play the Toronto Maple Leafs outdoors Saturday in the 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Mike Hoffman scored a power-play goal, and Erik Karlsson scored his first goal on the road of the season for Ottawa (21-31-10), which lost its fifth straight game. The Senators are 17 points behind the Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Karlsson's goal at 3:14 of the third period made it 3-2. It was his 500th NHL point, third-most in Senators history.
"Not at all [happy] right now," Karlsson said. "Obviously, nice to get it over with and not get stuck at 499, which usually happens when you're close to something."
Kuznetsov finished a cross-ice pass from T.J. Oshie at 15:16 of the first period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Kuznetsov made it 3-1 with 12 seconds left in the second on a wraparound.
"I tried to just get the puck in and then just skate," Kuznetsov said. "No one was open and then I saw the goalie was so close on me. You know, I try so many times, it never gets in. But today was a lucky day."
Wilson's wrist shot from the high slot beat Mike Condon 43 seconds into the second period to make it 2-0.
Hoffman's goal at 6:25 of the second period that made it 2-1 came three seconds after a 5-on-3 advantage became a 5-on-4.

The Senators outshot the Capitals 30-22 but were 1-for-7 on the power play, including two two-man advantages that lasted 2:20 and resulted in one shot on goal.
"[The penalty kill] gave us a chance," Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen said. "We probably took too many [penalties]. We wanted to be more competitive, but sometimes you take a couple penalties when you do that. So we had to kill them off and we did that."
After weeks of rumors regarding Karlsson, Hoffmann and others, there was a sense of relief among the Senators that the NHL Trade Deadline was behind them.
"The guys were a little bit more focused," Karlsson said. "It's been a lot of things going around for us. It's understandable with the circumstances. Our minds haven't been where they need to be. For the rest of the way we should have the same mindset of trying to win every game."

Goal of the game

Kuznetsov's goal at 19:48 of the second period.

Save of the game

Grubauer's save on Matt Duchene at 14:17 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Kuznetsov's goal at 15:16 of the first period.

They said it

"A lot of around and around and around. No pucks on net. No pucks on net, 100 percent sure of not scoring. That's something that's plagued us. We're looking for guys who are able to put it on net." -- Senators coach Guy Boucher on the power play
"I though the [penalty kill] was a star. I thought our resiliency was a star. We sort of had each other's back a little bit. We took some penalties, warranted or not. We had to battle through it. The guys battled through it. We weren't crying about it. I liked that response." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz

Need to know

Ottawa defenseman Mark Borowiecki sustained a neck strain in the first period, but Boucher said it was not a concussion and he will remain on the four-game road trip. … Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom assisted on Wilson's goal to tie Steve Larmer for 99th in NHL history (571). Backstrom has played 797 NHL games. … Karlsson has 123 goals and 377 assists in 613 NHL games. He trails Daniel Alfredsson (1,108 points) and Jason Spezza (687) in Senators history.

What's next

Senators: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Capitals: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS, NHL.TV)