Philipp Grubauer, Capitals shut out Kings

WASHINGTON --Goalie Philipp Grubauer made 38 saves for the Washington Capitals in a 5-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Verizon Center on Sunday.
It was Grubauer's third shutout of the season for the Capitals (36-11-6), who have won nine consecutive home games and lead the NHL with 78 points.

"He's been playing well all year for us when he's been out there," Capitals forward Marcus Johansson said of Grubauer. "Real solid. It's awesome. To have two goalies like that, that's a luxury, I think. Right from the start, you could see that he was in it. That's obviously a great feeling to have."
WATCH: All Kings vs. Capitals highlights
Lars Eller, Johansson, Brett Connolly, T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams scored for Washington.
Goalie Peter Budaj allowed four goals on 15 shots for the Kings (27-22-4), whose five-game winning streak ended. Jeff Zatkoff made four saves in relief after Budaj, who started both games of a back-to-back, was pulled after the the second period.
Eller ended Budaj's shutout streak at 147:21 at 3:16 of the first period that gave Washington a 1-0 lead. It was his ninth goal of the season.
Washington has scored first in 15 of its past 17 games.
"They do that a lot," Kings coach Daryl Sutter said of the Capitals. "Their scores this year in the first period are 2-to-1. They pretty much dominate everybody, for the most part. We missed the net a lot. I'd say in the first period we had two good looks."

Johansson made it 2-0 with 1:48 remaining in the first with his 16th goal on a wrist shot from the high slot.
Connolly's goal at 3:43 of the second gave Washington a 3-0 lead. His 10th goal came on an odd-man rush with Tom Wilson.
Oshie scored his 20th goal to make it 4-0 at 16:24 of the second, a short-side goal that popped the water bottle off the top of the net.
Williams scored his 18th goal at 16:38 of the third to give the Capitals a 5-0 lead.

Goal of the game

Johansson's goal was started by Evgeny Kuznetsov's play through the neutral zone. Kuznetsov found Johansson in the high slot and Budaj, screened by Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin, didn't see the shot.

Save of the game

Grubauer made a point-blank save off Kings forward Marian Gaborik during a sequence in the second period. The puck deflected off Grubauer's pad but he leaped to the left to catch it in his glove before Gaborik got another chance.

Highlight of the game

Oshie destroyed Budaj's water bottle with his top-shelf, short-side goal off a pass from Nicklas Backstrom.

Unsung performance of the game

Capitals defenseman John Carlson blocked seven shots and was plus-1 in 18:55 of ice time.

They said it

"We got a bunch of confident guys in here. A lot of guys are scoring and a lot of guys are playing pretty well at the top of their game. It's just a lot of fun. Lars and [Andre Burakovsky] have been very good, and we just want to keep rolling. We know we can make a difference, whether it's now or at the end of the year, playoffs or whatever it is. We just got to keep building on our game because we're gaining more confidence that we can make a difference in games. Barry [Trotz] put us out there against one of our top lines and just gaining more confidence [from] him, it's been a good month and we're looking to keep going." -- Capitals forward Brett Connolly
"I think once you're feeling it, you kind of just ride that feeling, ride that wave. I think everybody, once they're on the ice, they think they can score a goal right now. It is coming easy for us right now, or easier than it did the first 20 games or so. We're just kicking on all cylinders and we're having fun." -- Capitals forward Lars Eller
"They [Washington] can score. A lot of firepower and when you don't manage the puck well and give them opportunities to score, they're going to score. You give them a little space and they capitalize on that. that's the danger, and we gave them too much space."-- Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin

Need to know

The Kings placed forward Jordan Nolan on injured reserve Sunday. … Oshie has scored 20 goals for the second straight season and the third time in his NHL career. … Alex Ovechkin (one assist) has five points in his past five games (3-2-5).

What's next

Kings: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Capitals: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)