This was the only game in the Stadium Series scheduled for the2017–18 season (as opposed to multiple games in2014 and2016), and marked the first appearance of a Canadian team in the Stadium Series.
Washington'sAlexander Ovechkin scored his 40th goal of the season, whileNicklas Backstrom,Evgeny Kuznetsov andJohn Carlson each had a goal and two assists.[5] With ten minutes left in the third period, apower outage at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium suspended play for about 15 minutes.[6] Despite the power failure delay, the Capitals went on to win the game 5–2. In addition to the Ovechkin goal, the other Capitals players who scored were Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, andJakub Vrana.Nazem Kadri andZach Hyman scored the Maple Leafs' goals.
To accommodate NBC's preferred 8 p.m ET start time for the Stadium Series game,HNIC had an irregular schedule on this particular Saturday: theMontreal Canadiens' game against theBoston Bruins was played earlier at 5 p.m., theOttawa Senators atArizona Coyotes contest (onCity) also took place at 8 p.m. instead of the normal 7 p.m. start time for the early games, and the late doubleheader game featuring theNew York Rangers at theEdmonton Oilers was pushed to 10:30 p.m. ET.[7]
Due to the power outage delay, NBC switched the final minutes of the game toNBCSN at 11 p.m. ET to prevent local newscasts andSaturday Night Live from being delayed.[6]
