Things started well for the Washington Capitals on Tuesday
night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, then they degenerated quickly as the
Caps fell behind by a pair of goals after two periods, but they tied the game
in the third period, tied it again after falling behind, then won it in overtime
on an Alex Ovechkin bomb, 6-5.
Washington scored just 74 seconds into the contest when on a
power play, Justin Williams redirected a Dmitry Orlov drive with his skate just
enough for the puck to elude goalie Frederik Andersen’s right pad.
The lead was short-lived, though. Toronto scored at the 6:39 mark when Nazem
Kadri returned the favor on a power play of their own, jamming in a loose puck
from the top of the crease past goalie Braden Holtby’s left pad.
Five minutes later, the Leafs had the lead. Zach Hyman carried the puck down the middle
through the neutral zone, and upon gaining the Caps’ blue line, he dished it
off to Connor Brown on his right. Brown
stepped up and rifled a shot over Holtby’s glove, and it was 2-1, 11:44 into
the period.
Washington tied it at the 16-minute mark on a patient effort
by T.J. Oshie. Coming out of the penalty
box after serving a penalty, Justin Williams picked up a loose puck at the
Toronto blue line and sped into the offensive zone, he spun to try to feed the
puck back to Oshie, but it the pass was muffled by Morgan Rielly. Oshie still managed to collect the puck, and then
he circled to his right to try to improve his shooting angle. As Nazem Kadri lost his edge and slid into
Andersen, Oshie roofed the puck into the top of the net to tie the game once
more.
Two minutes later, though, the Leafs had the lead
again. Connor Carrick took a loose puck
off the right wing wall and fired a shot that was more of a change-up as he
broke his stick. The puck slid free,
finding Frederik Gauthier at the top of the crease, and Gauthier finished the
play, batting the puck past Holtby to make it 3-2 going into the first
intermission.
With Philipp Grubauer relieving Braden Holtby to start the
second period, Toronto added to their lead mid-way through the frame. On another power play, Auston Matthews worked
around Nicklas Backstrom along the right wing wall, then froze Brooks Orpik
along the goal line before heading behind the Caps net. From behind the net, he spun and found Leo
Komoarov in the low slot for a shot on which Grubauer had no chance, and it was
4-2 at the 13:33 mark.
Washington made short work of the deficit in the third
period, scoring two goals in 1:19 to tie the game early in the frame. Evgeny Kuznetsov got the Caps within one when
he one-timed a centering pass from Marcus Johansson from between the hash marks
past Andersen at the 2:20 mark. Then, Dmitry
Orlov tied it at the 3:39 mark when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Matt
Niskanen from the right wing faceoff dot past Andersen.
Toronto took the lead backwhen Mitch Marner broke behind the
Caps defense on a break and slid the puck between the pads of Grubauer 11:08
into the period. That lead lasted less
than three minutes. John Carlson fed
Evgeny Kuznetsov steaming through the neutral zone, and Kuznetsov carried the
puck in on Andersen. With Tyler Bozak
hounding him, Kuznetsov did not have a shot and carried the puck past Andersen
his left. Kuznetsov passed the puck
back in front, where it pinballed into the crease where Carlson jumped up to
backhand it into the net at the 13:55 mark to make it a 5-5 game.
That would be how the teams went to overtime, and from the
drop of the puck it took just 22 seconds to end it. John Carlson out-dueled Leo Komarov for a
loose puck along the right wing wall, freed himself, then sent a cross-ice pass
to Alex Ovechkin, who one-timed the biscuit past a lunging Andersen to send
everyone in red home happy, 6-5.
Other stuff…
-- The three goals allowed in the first period was the first
time this season an opponent touched up the Caps for than many first period
goals. The last time it happened was
last March 9th in a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings in Los
Angeles.
-- One of those first period goals was a power play goal,
breaking a streak of 29 straight kills for the Caps going back to the third
period of their 4-3 Gimmick win over Carolina on December 16th.
-- Braden Holtby was relieved in goal after 20 minutes in
favor of Philipp Grubauer, the first time a Capitals netminder was relieved
in-game this season.
-- The two power play goals allowed was the first time the
Caps allowed two or more in a game since the Columbus Blue Jackets nicked the
Caps for a pair on three chances in a 3-2 Caps loss on November 20th.
-- Justin Williams almost had a four-point game (1-3-4), which
would have been his first in more than ten years, since he had a hat trick and
an assist in a 5-1 Carolina Hurricanes win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on
October 16, 2006. However, the final
official score sheet deducted an assist.
Even with his three-point effort, Williams is 8-7-15 in his last 14
games.
-- Evgeny Kuznetsov had a four-point game of his own
(1-3-4), his high for points this season and the most he had since he was 0-4-4
in a 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets last January 19th.
-- Look at this play-by-play log of overtime (click on it for a larger image)…
…this is the way you draw it up.
-- But in-between, credit John Carlson with fighting off Leo
Komarov along the right wing boards, freeing himself to make the pass that
Ovechkin one-timed for the game-winner.
-- Alex Ovechkin’s overtime game game-winning goal was his
19th overtime game winner of his career, tying Jaromir Jagr for most
in NHL history. The goal was also his
543rd of his career, placing him one behind Maurice “Rocket” Richard,
whose trophy he has owed the last four seasons.
Ovechkin’s goal completed a “Russian Hat Trick” of sorts. He, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Dmitry Orlov had
goals.
-- Lost in all this was goalie Philipp Grubauer who,
although giving up two goals on 17 shots, did stop the bleeding after he
relieved Braden Holtby and played well enough to give the team a chance to come
back in the third period.
In the end...
If you like defense, you probably should have changed the
channel from this game two minutes into the contest. If you were nostalgic for the 1980’s, it was
your cup of tea. For stretches, the
Maple Leafs looked like the Caps of the Bruce Boudreau years – opportunistic and
cold-blooded when finishing plays. But
in the end, it was a bit of an imitation.
The Caps can still conjure up those kinds of efforts, being cold-blooded
in their own right in pouncing on a young team prone to giving up third period
leads (this was the sixth time Toronto lost a game in extra time this season
when taking a lead into the third period).
This will be a fun game to rewind, but lurking now are the Columbus
Blue Jackets, owners of a 16-game winning streak after their 3-1 win over the
Edmonton Oilers. They will come to
Verizon Center on Thursday night with the chance to tie an NHL record for
consecutive wins. If any team can end
that streak, you would think the Caps, with 14 goals in their last three games,
could be just that team.