Gustafsson scores hat trick, Capitals defeat Maple Leafs

WASHINGTON --Erik Gustafsson scored his first NHL hat trick for the Washington Capitals in a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

The hat trick came in Gustafsson's 341st NHL game. It was the defenseman's first three goals of the season after he signed a one-year contract July 13.
"Scoring the first goal as a [Capital] too and get a 'hatty' on [top of] that is pretty unbelievable," Gustafsson said. "It was a great feeling."

Alex Ovechkin (800 career goals) did not score in his second attempt to tie Gordie Howe (801) for second on the NHL all-time goals list. Wayne Gretzky leads with 894.
Sonny Milano had three assists for Washington (16-13-4), which has won six of its past seven games. Charlie Lindgren made 34 saves.
"A (few) of the things we talk about are defense and puck decisions and attacking the net," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "Every guy has to do their job and they have to play hard, and we've gotten that on most nights. Guys have played hard. They've done the right things."
Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist for Toronto (19-7-6), which has lost its past two games after a 15-game point streak (12-0-3). Ilya Samsonov, who played the previous three seasons with Washington, allowed five goals on 28 shots in his first game back here. Samsonov was coming off consecutive shutouts and saw his streak end at 163:46.
"I think I played bad in this game," Samsonov said." A couple bad bounces, yeah. We need to get working. … For my game, I need to play better."
Gustafsson gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 11:12 of the first period, knocking in the rebound of Milano's shot at the right post.
William Nylander tied it 1-1 at 13:12 when he scored on a one-timer from the high slot off a pass from Matthews.
Trevor van Riemsdyk gave Washington a 2-1 lead at 14:48 when his shot from the left face-off circle deflected off Mark Giordano's stick and eluded Samsonov.
Van Riemsdyk has three goals in the past four games; he entered this season with 17 in 456.
"I was just trying to get it to the far pad. I didn't really have much," he said. "It was obviously really lucky to kind of hit his stick and bounce up into the air and get by 'Sammy' there. So, fortunate bounce, but we'll take it."

Gustafsson made it 3-1 after a cross-ice pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov on the rush at 2:51 of the second period.
Matthews cut it to 3-2 at 6:25, skating into the zone and beating Lindgren with a shot from the high slot.
Garnet Hathaway gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead when he scored from the right circle 10 seconds into the third period.
"I thought we had an excellent second period and didn't get rewarded for it and didn't finish our chances, and they score 10 seconds into the third," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "It's a tough climb from there."

Gustafsson completed the hat trick at 3:47 with a wrist shot from the left circle after a pass from Kuznetsov for the 5-2 final.
Lindgren made nine saves in the third. He is 6-1-0 with a 1.87 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in his past seven starts.
"Tonight, we answered the bell. That seems to be what this team's been doing all year long, especially as of late," Lindgren said. "We're just answering the bell. All four lines, our [defensemen] are playing excellent. It's a really good win against a really good hockey team."
NOTES:Washington forward T.J. Oshie left the game in the second because of an upper-body injury. He will be reevaluated Sunday. … Gustafsson is the third defenseman in Capitals history to score a regular-season hat trick, joining Kevin Hatcher (Jan. 13, 1993) and Sergei Gonchar (Jan. 4, 2000). … Washington forward Nic Dowd was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. … The Capitals are 16-1-1 when they score three or more goals this season. … Toronto forward Michael Bunting had his 10-game point streak end (12 points; three goals, nine assists).