TORONTO -- Philipp Grubauer missed his fourth shutout of the season with just under two minutes to play Tuesday night, but the Washington Capitals' backup goaltender was not disappointed.

More important, he said, was the 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It means the Capitals need only one point Wednesday night when they play the New York Rangers to clinch first place in the Eastern Conference.

The loss stopped the Maple Leafs' four-game winning streak and kept Toronto from clinching a playoff spot.

"I mean two points are more important than the shutout," said Grubauer, who stopped 27 shots. "I'll take the win any day over the shutout. It was good getting those two points and move a little further away from those teams chasing us."

Lars Eller, Kevin Shattenkirk, Nate Schmidt and Tom Wilson scored for the Capitals (53-18-8). Brett Connolly added two assists for Washington.

Mitch Marner scored his 19th goal of the season for Toronto (39-25-15) on a power play at 18:52 of the third period.

The Capitals asserted themselves from the first shift with Alex Ovechkin dishing out a big hit soon after the faceoff.

"I thought we came out and played with purpose," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "(Ovechkin) came out and set the tone right off the bat. We played with a little more detail and purpose.

"I thought we stayed with what we were doing the whole night. The only disappointment I had is that we took a late penalty and (Grubauer) didn't get the shutout."

Trotz thought the Maple Leafs might have been at a disadvantage because they played the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, winning 4-2, and the Capitals did not play.

"That's the way the schedule is," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought they played good and I didn't think we did. I thought they had energy and we didn't have a whole bunch.

"I thought they came out and dictated play right from the get-go. I didn't think we had a whole lot of answers, to be honest with you. I thought they were a good team that was hungry, that was competitive, that won battles. They won more battles than we did and had more energy."

Grubauer had only three shots to handle in the first period, although the Maple Leafs picked up the pace in the second period.

"This was one of the best games we played for 60 minutes," Grubauer said. "I don't think they had too many chances. We shut them down, we had unbelievable reads and did damage in the offensive zone.

"(In the first period) I played the puck more than I had shots, so it kind of helped me to stay in the game."

Curtis McElhinney made 34 stops in the Toronto goal.

"Obviously, they came ready to play," Marner said. "I think the first 10 (minutes) we really needed to push back hard and it took us a little bit of time to get our legs under us. ... They got on our (defense) hard."

Washington took the lead at 14:34 of the first period on the 12th goal of the season by Eller on a shot from the left faceoff circle, converting a pass from Andre Burakovsky.

"The biggest thing was the way we came out," Eller said. "Even if we hadn't gotten the first goal, I felt very comfortable with the way we were playing and Ovie set the tone on the first shift. We came out with the right intensity, the right attitude."

The Capitals outshot the Maple Leafs 13-3 in the first period.

Washington took a 2-0 lead at 10:00 of the second period on the 12th goal of the season by Shattenkirk.

The power-play goal came on a shot from the left circle after a cross-ice pass from Nicklas Backstrom. Marner was serving a holding-the-stick penalty.

Schmidt -- a last-minute substitute for defenseman John Carlson, who had an undisclosed injury that Trotz said was not serious -- scored his third goal of the season from the high slot at 8:11 of the third period.

Wilson broke in alone to score his seventh goal of the season on a backhand at 16:46 of the third.

NOTES: Maple Leafs C Brian Boyle (upper-body injury) left the game in the first period and did not return and will be evaluated Wednesday. ...Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin said he intends to represent Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics after the NHL announced Monday that it will not interrupt the 2017-18 schedule to allow players to participate in the PyeongChang Games. "I think everybody wants to play there, and it's the biggest opportunity in your life to play in the Olympic Games," Ovechkin said Tuesday. "So I don't know. Somebody going to tell me don't go, I don't care. I just go." ... Tuesday was the third and final meeting between the teams. The Maple Leafs won 4-2 Nov. 26 in Toronto and the Capitals won 6-5 in overtime Jan. 3 at Washington. ...The Maple Leafs will play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at the Air Canada Centre. The Capitals will play the New York Rangers on Wednesday at the Verizon Center.