This was the only game in the Stadium Series scheduled for the
2017–18 season (as opposed to multiple games in
2014 and
2016), and marked the first appearance of a Canadian team in the Stadium Series.
Washington's
Alexander Ovechkin scored his 40th goal of the season, while
Nicklas Backstrom,
Evgeny Kuznetsov and
John Carlson each had a goal and two assists.[5] With ten minutes left in the third period, a
power 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, and
Jakub Vrana.
Nazem Kadri and
Zach 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: the
Montreal Canadiens' game against the
Boston Bruins was played earlier at 5 p.m., the
Ottawa Senators at
Arizona Coyotes contest (on
City) 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 the
New York Rangers at the
Edmonton Oilers was pushed to 10:30 p.m. ET.[7]
Due to the power outage delay, NBC switched the final minutes of the game to
NBCSN at 11 p.m. ET to prevent local newscasts and Saturday Night Live from being delayed,[6] while CBC shifted the Rangers–Oilers game to Sportsnet.[citation needed]