Capitals vs. Maple Leafs: Lines, Tale of the Tape, Players To Watch

Back on Thursday, the Washington Capitals played their "most important game of the year" against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and they prevailed with a convincing 3-2 shootout victory to get some leverage in the standings. They'll look to keep things going against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Sunday afternoon showdown up north.

Here's everything to know before puck drop:

Washington Capitals vs. Toronto Maple Leafs: Tale of the Tape

The Capitals (26-19-6) are coming off a huge win, one where they saw their offense click and the power play convert. The defense was also impressive, protecting the puck well while Darcy Kuemper was also strong between the pipes.

Some key stats for Washington:

PP%: 20.5 (19th)

PK%: 81.8 (8th)

GF/G: 3.14 (16th)

GA/G: 2.78 (10th)

The Maple Leafs (30-12-8) is coming off a rough 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, and are also without the services of Auston Matthews, who is out for a minimum of three weeks due to a knee sprain. However, they're still dangerous, and Ilya Samsonov has been having a decent bounceback season for the Leafs, who can still do a lot of damage and don't give up too much.

Some key stats for Toronto:

PP%: 24.4 (8th)

PK%: 74.4% (16th)

GF/G: 3.36 (8th)

GA/G: 2.68 (7th)

Washington Capitals vs. Toronto Maple Leafs: Lines

With Tom Wilson (lower-body) and Nic Dowd (lower-body) unavailable through the All-Star break, and John Carlson still out long-term, Washington appears to be running with the same lines as last game. There's no morning skate with the game starting early, but here are the projected lines based on Saturday's practice:

Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-T.J. Oshie

Conor Sheary-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Anthony Mantha

Sonny Milano-Nicklas Backstrom-Marcus Johansson

Nicolas Aube-Kubel-Lars Eller-Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Dmitry Orlov-Nick Jensen

Matt Irwin-Martin Fehervary

Kuemper starts, with Charlie Lindgren backing up.

Washington Capitals vs. Toronto Maple Leafs: Players To Watch

Capitals: Alex Ovechkin has goals in back-to-back games… Dylan Strome has points in four of his last five games… Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov have points in three of their last four outings… Dmitry Orlov has three points in his last four contests.

Maple Leafs: William Nylander is on a six-game point streak, with 11 points over that span… Mitch Marner has points in six of his last seven and 12 of his last 14 games overall… John Tavares has points in three straight… Calle Jarnkrok has goals in two of his last four.

How To Tune In

Local fans can catch the action live on NBC Sports Washington and tune in at WJFK 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7. Toronto fans up north can watch on TSN4. The game is also on NHL Network.

Puck drop is at 5 p.m. ET at Scotiabank Arena.