With two early goals, the Washington Capitals silenced a boisterous crowd at Air Canada Centre, but it didn’t last. The Leafs wrested control of the game back and applied pressure until the Caps made mistakes, forcing yet another overtime, the third in three games.
Nick Backstrom opened up scoring from the backdoor, fed by Nate Schmidt. Alex Ovechkin took a shot from wayyyy out to give the Caps an early 2-0 lead that they would squander. Auston Matthews finally got involved in playoff scoring after a shot bounced off Schmidt’s mask, making it 2-1 after one.
In the second, Evgeny Kuznetsov cleaned up Marcus Johansson’s rebound to extend Washington’s lead. Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown answered with a heavy shift agaisnt the Caps’ top line, ending with a goal. William Nylander tied the game late in the second while Shattenkirk and Orpik both got caught chasing Zach Hyman below the goal line. That pushed us to overtime, again, but it didn’t last long. Tyler Bozak ended it on the power play.
Caps lose. Leafs lead the series 2-1.
- Karl Alzner did not play. After 599 games (between regular and postseason), Alzner missed Game Three with an upper body injury. In his place…
- Nate Schmidt, who was at the heart of every big play in the game’s first thirty minutes. Schmidt served Backstrom, was on for Ovi’s and Kuzy’s goals, and got beaned in the helmet to give Auston Matthews his layup.
- To that point: John Carlson is a high-event player. Regardless of his partner, he’s the wrong Caps D-man to go up against the Leafs’ most dangerous line.
- Also not an ideal matchup for Matthews: Brooks Orpik, who is less than mobile at age 36. Orpik was on the ice for Toronto’s comeback goals in the second period, though maybe it was decision-making, not speed, that gave up those goals. Shattenkirk should share the blame, and his puck-over-glass delay-of-game in the third period kept that going.
- But before that, the Caps had an opportunity. The Leafs gave the Caps a two-minute 5-on-3 followed by a 5-on-4. Scoring on neither, Washington handed momentum to the Leafs, who strapped themselves to a gosh darn rocket from there on out.
- Facing an dangerous 1-on-zero rush in the second period, Braden Holtby added another bad-ass moment to his playoff — leaving his crease to send a wild swing of his stick at the feet of Mitch Marner. It was as risky as any move he could have made, but it worked.
- The Leafs brought intensity with them at the dawn of the third period, keeping the Caps without a shot on goal through ten minutes and forcing two power plays. Fending off wave after wave, the Caps couldn’t play their gameplan and looked … I dunno … like a free jazz band jamming with Kraftwerk.
- I don’t have the heart to describe how the possession beatdown the Caps suffered. Just look here and then blankly stare into the middle distance. It was one of the worst periods the Caps have played all season, and it came in a tied game in a tied series in the playoffs. Capping it off: with 15 seconds left in regulation, Lars Eller clipped a Leaf with his stick, and the refs actually called it. That power play time carried over to OT, a grim goddamn specter for an extra period that ended too soon.
Joe B suit of the night
So the Caps found their scoring touch, but couldn’t keep it going. They got stomped in the possession game and looked pretty miserable in the back half of the first 60. For the third straight game, they’ve required overtime. For the second straight game, they’ve lost to an inferior team. These one-goal games are living life on a knife’s edge, handing over to chance what should be their right by conquest. It was chickenshit hockey for the Caps on Monday, and they’ll need to do way better in Game Four.
Full Coverage of Caps vs Maple Leafs
Headline photo: Ted Starkey
