Washington, as they did in Game 4 and 5, took a first period
lead. With Nazem Kadri in the penalty
box for the Leafs, the Caps scored on a late power play. Kevin Shattenkirk started the scoring play
backing the puck inside the Toronto blue line to create space. He sent the back in the direction from where
he came, to Nicklas Backstrom at the right point. With space on that side, Backstrom stepped up
and wristed a shot off the near post to the left of goalie Frederik
Andersen. The puck caromed out the far
side, and T.J. Oshie was quick to circle in and backhand the puck past Andersen’s
right pad before Zack Hyman could close on him.
The Caps had a 1-0 lead 18:15 into the period.
Toronto got the equalizer six minutes into the second
period. Working the puck below the Caps’
goal line, William Nylander circled out to the left of goalie Braden
Holtby. From the right wing faceoff
circle he spun and fired a shot at the net.
It pinballed among a clot of bodies and slid out to Holtby’s right, where
Auston Matthews was open. Matthews
stuffed the puck past Holtby’s right pad, and it was a 1-1 game.
That would be all the scoring until overtime, the fourth
time in five games the teams went to an extra session. It did not last long when a basic play that
players have been seeing drawn up since they were playing pee-wee
unfolded. Jay Beagle won a defensive
zone faceoff, and Matt Niskanen took control of the puck. Skating to the red line, he dumped in deep
behind the Toronto net. Marcus Johansson
was first to the puck and chipped it to Evgeny Kuznetsov in the corner to
Andersen’s left. Kuznetsov spied Justin
Williams following the play down the middle, and he teed up a pass for Williams
to lean into. Williams’ one-timer from
between the hash marks found its way between Andersen’s pads, and the Caps
found their way to a 2-1 win...
Other stuff…
-- The fourth overtime game in this series ties for the most
in a series in Caps history. Washington
and the Boston Bruins played four overtimes in 2012, each club winning twice,
the Caps’ second win coming in Game 7.
-- Justin Williams’ overtime goal was the seventh
game-winner in his career, his second in this series, and the third time he did
it against the Maple Leafs (his first career game-winner came in a 6-1 win over
Toronto in Game 7 of their opening round series in 2003).
-- Getting to “two” was a good thing. The Caps are 40-26 in playoff games since 2005-2006
when scoring two or more goals.
-- With the win, the Caps are now 12-17 in overtime
decisions since 2005-2006 and evened their overtime record on home ice in that
span at 7-7.
-- Alex Ovechkin skated a more normal 19:29 in ice time
after consecutive games under 17 minutes.
His 15:4w4 in even strength ice time was second only to Evgeny Kuznetsov
(15:47).
-- At the other end, Brett Connolly skated just 6:12 for the
game and had only three shifts after the first period totaling 2:46.
-- Tom Wilson did not work or play well with others. Four minor penalties, two of them for
unsportsmanlike conduct. It helped hold
him to 10:14 in ice time and just a single shot attempt (on goal).
-- That Connolly did not have a shot attempt in his six
minutes of ice time is not surprising. A
little less surprising that Jay Beagle didn’t have one, either, in 12:16 of ice
time. Daniel Winnik had all three shot
attempts for the fourth line (shot on goal, a miss, a shot blocked).
-- The Caps had 22 blocked shots, not an extraordinary
amount, but they did spread the bodily sacrifices around. Twelve different skaters recorded at least
one, with John Carlson leading the team with five.
-- The even-strength battle was fought to a virtual
draw. Toronto had 50 shot attempts to 48
for the Caps, while the Caps had 22 shots on goal to 21 for the Maple
Leafs. Each team had one goal at fives (numbers from Corsica.hockey).
In the end...
The off-day work Braden Holtby did with coach Mitch Korn
appeared to pay off. He was a good deal
sharper than he has been at any time in this series and allowed one goal in a postseason
game for the first time since he stopped 30 of 31 shots in a 3-1 win over the
Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of last spring’s second round playoff series.
The point has been made that the Toronto Maple Leafs are a
team that won’t go away. And now they
are going home with their season in the balance. Don’t count on the Caps going away.
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