Sunday night the Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs for the last time this season, winning 2-1 in the fifth overtime of the series. All six games were won by one goal. Even though it would’ve been arrogant to completely dismiss the Leafs prior to this series, almost nobody thought it would be quite this tough (Peter and Ian excepted). Props to the Leafs, who showed that they can be a deep, tough, and structured opponent.
The heroics last night came mainly from Marcus Johansson, who got the OT winner and the late third period game-tying goal. Nate Schmidt was nearly injured by Leo Komarov (who we won’t miss), but hopefully he’ll be okay for the Caps’ upcoming matchup with the flightless birds.
Once again, shot attempts were nearly even at 63 to 62 in favor of the Caps at five-on-five, and scoring chances were 31-27. The Caps seized the “big moment” of OT and managed to put five shots on net to just one by the Leafs.
Key Stats
- The depth players chipped in. Last year, we lamented the lack of production from almost everyone below the top line. That trend has been bucked a bit so far this postseason, with three goals from Tom Wilson, another three from Justin Williams, and two more from MoJo. Each of them has a “W” almost solely credited to their name. The only pointless players in the series were Jay Beagle, Brett Connolly, and Daniel Winnik. Still though, of the Caps’ 18 goals this round eight of them came from the top-line trio, which is both good and bad, depending on how you look at it.
- Alex Ovechkin finally led Caps forwards in ice time. We’ve been clamoring for a few games for as much Ovi-time as possible, and last night our request was fulfilled. Ovi skated around 19.5 minutes at five-on-five and was plus-11 in shot attempts and plus-six in scoring chances during that time. The top line trio was a plus-four in shot attempts overall last night, just behind the third line at plus-five. Overall, Ovi was fifth on the team among forwards in ice time per game, with TJ Oshie leading the way in that statistic.
- Since the series is over, we can fully give a shoutout to Auston Matthews and his linemates. They were good. Really good. It’s hard to look past the ire that develops for any playoff opponent, but the line of Matthews, William Nylander, and Zack Hyman deserve credit. Hopefully, they have been a good warmup for the Caps’ upcoming matchup with certain speedy superstars. That said, it could also be a warning sign, as Matthews scored in the last four games and finished the series a plus-20 in shot attempts, while Nylander and Brown were both plus-34… And that was while skating mostly against Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen, who are as capable as they come.
WSH-TOR series (six games of PBP, missing TOI for G2 though). Kadri line good vs Shattenkirk, not vs Carlson or Niskanen. Schmidt great. pic.twitter.com/r9SBZirawO
— Muneeb Alam (@muneebalamcu) April 24, 2017
Unsung Hero of the Game
We mentioned Ovi above, and overall he deserves accolades for being strong and captainly in this series. But this has got to go to Braden Holtby, who was briefly doubted after surrendering four goals in games two through four (although he did so with no shortage of crazy bounces and dangerous chances). The Caps seemed to settle down and get more structured as the series wore on, and with that Holts retook his natural form of a brick wall. He allowed just two goals on the last 63 shots of the series for a .968 save percentage. Holtby out-dueled Fredrik Andersson and once again showed that he fully deserves his recent Vezina nomination.
Trend to Watch
We will have plenty of time to look ahead between now and Thursday, but it’s interesting to ponder that given the performance the Leafs put on, there might not be that much of a step up between them and the Penguins. These things are always hard to predict but it’s possible that the Caps were served well by having such an unexpectedly scary first round warm-up (Holtby mentioned this factor during his postgame, as well).
Let’s take a look at some of the key stats for the Pens and the Leafs from the regular season. All non-special-teams stats are five-on-five and score adjusted. Statistically, these two teams aren’t separated by as much as you’d think.
| Stat | Maple Leafs | Penguins |
|---|---|---|
| Shot attempts per 60 | 61.2 | 59.8 |
| Shot attempts allowed per 60 | 58.7 | 58.1 |
| GF per 60 | 2.6 | 2.9 |
| GA per 60 | 2.5 | 2.3 |
| Expected goals-for percent | 51.9 | 52.8 |
| Scoring chance-for percent | 53.0 | 53.2 |
| Shooting percent | 8.3 | 8.5 |
| Save percent | .923 | .926 |
| Penalty kill | 82.5 | 79.8 |
| Powerplay | 23.8 | 23.1 |
Full Coverage of Caps at Maple Leafs
Stats courtesy of Corsica.Hockey and NaturalStatTrick.
Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI.
