• HOME
  • STORE
    • SPREADSHIRT STORE
    • SOCKS
    • RMNB STICKER SHOP
    • SUPPORT US ON PATREON
  • PODCAST
  • ABOUT
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • COMMENT POLICY
    • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • STORE
    • SPREADSHIRT STORE
    • SOCKS
    • RMNB STICKER SHOP
    • SUPPORT US ON PATREON
  • PODCAST
  • ABOUT
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • COMMENT POLICY
    • CONTACT US

Swipe to Navigate Older/Newer Posts

  • TRENDING    |
    • Lucic thrown out
    • Girard breaks sternum
    • Binnington throws bottle at Kadri
    • Ovi will play in Semin farewell game

    Home / Game Recap / Cardiac: Leafs beat Caps 4-3 (OT)

    Cardiac: Leafs beat Caps 4-3 (OT)

    By Peter Hassett

     0 Comment

    April 15, 2017 11:37 pm

    You didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you? We said this would be a fun series, not a breeze. The Toronto Maple Leafs are too fast and too feisty for that.

    Once again, Toronto got the game’s first goal, a JVR score on a broken play. Alex Ovechkin got involved in the offense in the second, notching a PPG from the Ovi Spot. A John Carlson slapshot put the Caps up, but Kasperi Kapanen got a lucky bounce, then Morgan Rielly got a sneaky screened wristshot through to give the Leafs a 3-2 lead entering the third.

    It took more than ten minutes in that final frame, but a ferocious shift by the top line finally scored as Nick Backstrom found daylight behind Freddy Andersen to tie the game and force overtime, again.

    Overtime was like getting beat over the head by a tube sock full of nickels, but you liked it somehow? Without a decision, double overtime ensued, which is the like the first one except the sock is on fire this time. Then, John Carlson lost his stick and Kapanen ended the night.

    Leafs beat Caps 4-3 in double overtime. Series is tied at 1.

    • Fate is a function of flukes. Two Leafs goals came just a blink after an errant puck bounced off a forward’s skates. Each time it was a fourth liner: first Beagle, then Winnik. That first goal, the JVR one, was compounded by Niskanen losing his stick in a collision with the boards and then losing his glove in what I assume was just the universe messing with him.
    • Two goals can seem insurmountable, but the Caps powerplay has been scaling mountains for damn near a decade. Both units of the Caps PP were strong on Saturday night, and each struck in the second period. It is criminal to leave Alex Ovechkin that wide open, but we’ve entered a state of lawlessness that I’m enjoying. It’s like the Purge.
    • Just as important as the powerplay being good is getting the Caps onto the powerplay to begin with. Caps depth did a tremendous job drawing penalties, even though this game was curiously officiated by Tim Peel and company.
    • Curious as in Connor Carrick got no flack for putting these cross-checks on Alex Ovechkin early in the third. The calls just freaking stopped in the last ten minutes.

    Connor Carrick crosschecks Alex Ovechkin in the face pic.twitter.com/ib7sgAztXZ

    — Ian Oland (@ianoland) April 16, 2017

    • John Carlson is infamous for an inaccurate slapshot. On Saturday, he did not miss. Dude shows up for big games.
    • Roman Polak left the game after a big hit by Brooks Orpik. The hit itself didn’t seem malicious, but Polak didn’t see it coming and fell awkwardly. I’m no sawbones, but I don’t think feet are supposed to bend that way. Again, didn’t seem like a nefarious hit, and to my eyes the injury occurred when Polak’s leg didn’t get out from under him as he fell to the ice. Polak put no weight on the leg as he was escorted off the ice, so…. that’s bad.
    • After being Game One’s stud, Justin Williams had a rougher going. He took two offensive-zone penalties in the first period and got wrecked by shot metrics. Then again, in his defense…

    Justin, cut that out. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/jEzXoOW5Ba

    — NHL (@NHL) April 16, 2017

    • Barry Trotz seems to be committed to putting the Kuznetsov line out against Auston Matthews. It didn’t work nearly as well as it did in Game One, but I’m sure the Beagle line would’ve fared more poorly.
    • Down a goal in the third, the Caps desperate spawned dominance. Trotz iced Orlov, Niskanen, Oshie, Ovechkin, and Nick goddamn Backstrom. Together, Caps!Voltron delivered an intense, extended shooting session that would not end until the goal light lit up. Babcock’s computer boys up in ‘Ronto will call that one a heavy shift for damn sure.

    Joe B suit of the night

    That was a dangerously entertaining game. It was fun, but it was painful fun. My heart hurts. When those third and fourth and fifth periods’ paces went into the thermosphere, I felt like I had drank lightning. That’s loffs hockey, Caps loffs hockey, Caps overtime loffs hockey. Why do we do this to ourselves? Because it’s rad, but it hurts.

    With Zaitsev and Polak out for the Leafs D corps, Babcock will have some interesting questions to answer before Monday night. But that’s all secondary to the big point: this series, once thought a certain blowout, is tied and headed to Toronto.

    Get ready.

    Full Coverage of Caps vs Maple Leafs

    Headline photo: Sean Fitz-Gerald

    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
    • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
    041517, 2017 Playoffs, Caps vs Leafs
    Share On
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Google+



    • Russian Machine Never Breaks is not associated with the Washington Capitals; Monumental Sports, the NHL, or its properties. Not even a little bit.

      All original content on russianmachineneverbreaks.com is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)– unless otherwise stated or superseded by another license. You are free to share, copy, and remix this content so long as it is attributed, done for noncommercial purposes, and done so under a license similar to this one.


    © RMNB LLC 2009- Privacy

     

    Loading Comments...
     

      loading Cancel
      Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
      Email check failed, please try again
      Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.