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To Toronto, Thanks for Everything, Washington: Caps beat Leafs 4-0

By Peter Hassett

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March 1, 2015 10:39 pm

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Whoa, relax Andre. It’s just an NHL goal. 

We needed this. The Capitals had a rough week, but they capped it off with a steady victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.

Alex Ovechkin was the guy. He scored on his very first shift, using the space allowed to him by a gracious Leafs defense to shoot from the slot. He scored again in the second, snatching Brooks Orpik’s rebound to put the Caps up two.

Marcus Johansson sidled up to the scoreboard with a backdoor tap-in in the third period. Joel Ward launched an ICBM from the Caps’ side of the ice to score an empty netter with five minutes left.

Caps beat Leafs 4-0. Slump busted. Holtby perfect.

  • With the minor exception of his celebration face, Andre Burakovsky looks splendid on the top line. The Caps’ premiere scoring line was up in Reimer’s face all night. If the Caps can’t get a top-line winger tomorrow, I know a twenty year old who’s up for the job.
  • Toronto’s Korbinian Holzer was injured by an Ovechkin hit early in the first period. He left the game and immediately returned to Neuschwanstein by way of a horse-drawn sleigh.
  • Wherever there’s a penalty call, Tom Wilson isn’t far away. He got busted for embellishing Tyler Bozak‘s hook in the second period. He also started static with future hall-of-famer Zach Sill, unleashing what Alan May called a “war cry.” Relevant tweet is relevant:

  • Also a warrior: Tim Gleason, who played his first game in a Capitals uniform. Gleason played well enough to allow Mike Green to step up on a couple of attacks, and he blocked one big shot in the first period that nearly had me looking up NHL lemon laws. Gleason was fine, and so is the blue line.
  • The Capitals’ power play finally sweated out the snakebite with Marcus Johansson‘s backdoor layup in the third period. The Caps penalty kill unit was similarly studly against the Leafs. But the Leafs are so high strung and discombobulated; at any given moment they are on the verge of a breakdown. They’re hockey’s Mrs. White.
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  • Like, how peeved was Richard Panik after duffing that open-net opportunity during a third-period play? You gotta hope the Leafs trainer has stress dolls and a pitcher of warm milk in the locker room.
  • Speaking of athletic trainers: Greg “Smitty” Smith served 1500th game tonight. That’s a hard job, and Greg has lasted. Bravo.
  • I apologize, I can’t help myself. My love for bullies outweighs my hate for the Pittsburgh hockey club. Look at this little guy!

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Joe B’s white-and-gold suit of the night

Oh, I forgot about Alex Ovechkin! Silly me. Ovechkin scored twice tonight, both during even strength, for his 40th and 41st goals of the season. Not bad, not bad.

It’s nights like this that remind me of all Alex Ovechkin’s many character assassins. Kornheiser, MacLean, Milbury and the rest– I hope they appreciate that Ovi has joined the company of the very best scorers in this league’s history in yet another category– with seven 40-goal seasons.

Again: we needed that. Thank you, Maple Leafs.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Leafs

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