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]