March 2, 2016 10:54 pm

Photo: Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports

It is 2016, and the only trend worse than man buns is the Caps looking deader than dead in the first period. Whether the Caps were playing at even-strength, on the power play, or on the penalty kill, they were hardly a dominant force throughout the game.

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past nine months or have absolutely no prior knowledge of hockey, guess what? According to the standings, the Caps are the NHL’s best team, and the Leafs are amongst its dregs. After tonight, though, who’d have thunk?

The Caps made an already-iffy first period even worse by taking three penalties (and giving the Leafs’ league-worst power play a chance to climb the rankings.) The Caps’ penalty kill was equally disappointing; the same can’t be said of their first-period offensive outburst. Thanks to a sweet assist by TJ Oshie, Taylor Chorney scored the game’s first goal–and his first since 2011. Not to be outdone, Nicklas Backstrom capitalized on a Leafs turnover to set up Alex Ovechkin with a perfect pass. If you kept watching, good for you.

Caps beat Leafs 3-2!

Hockey is a really exciting sport. Tonight, it was not.
Nevertheless, there were some memorable happenings. If the Caps’ goals scored 28 seconds apart were the most exciting moments of the ~~first period~~ game, then Brooks Laich’s tribute video was the sweetest. It was a great, well-deserved moment of recognition.
Grubauer notched his seventh win of the season, but boy did the Caps make him work for it. Shot attempts: 29 Leafs, 23 Caps.
If frantically checking possession numbers was more exciting than watching the actual game, then you probably noticed a few things. Most notably, Brooks Orpik was one of the Caps’ best possession players. On the flip side, Connor Carrick and Brooks Laich posted some rockin’ CF%.
The power play is still struggling. In an attempt to liven up the game, Nikita Soshnikov decided to board Karl Alzner after previously running over Grubauer. Cue the Caps’ power play, which clicked on the third try and resulted in Niskanen scoring on Jonathan Bernier.
Speaking of special teams, the Caps took two delay-of-game penalties in the first period. That sounds even more ridiculous if you say it out loud.
Nate Schmidt was scratched tonight, and at first it appeared he was a healthy scratch. But no need to change the Schmidtuation level, as Nate is just a little banged up with a minor injury.