The Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs met Saturday night in DC in a fixture that many expected to be quite the barn burner. It wasn’t exactly that, but I think you’d still be hard pressed to find a more enjoyable to watch hockey game on TV this weekend.

Chandler Stephenson opened the scoring only 18 seconds into the first period. Kasperi Kapanen tied the game with a deflection early in the second before Evgeny Kuznetsov put the Caps back up one on the power play. Par Lindholm tied things back up before we headed to the third frame.

Josh Leivo gave the Leafs their first lead of the night on the man advantage and Auston Matthews extended said lead.

Leafs beat Caps 4-2.

• Head coach Todd Reirden made a change to his top line before Saturday’s game, moving Chandler Stephenson up to play with the Caps Russian dynamic duo. That change paid dividends just 18 seconds into the first period as Stephenson put home a rebound for his first marker of the season. I like his fit up there in a pinch a lot more than Brett Connolly‘s.
• Dmitrij Jaskin was hobbled by a booming slap shot to his right foot late in period number one. Jaskin would end up being fine, but ow ow ow. I felt that one for you, Dmitrij. More like “Yikes-kin”, am I right or am I right?
• Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s second period power play goal was a thing of beauty and one of the nicest in his career to this point. You cannot place a top shelf, bad angle shot better than that. That was vintage Alexander Semin type nasty. No look dart to the upper tank? Sheesh.

Nicklas Backstrom's favorite player quote on Evgeny Kuznetsov in awesome graphic form pic.twitter.com/BKEvv4Ijmt

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) October 14, 2018

• Andre Burakovsky looks lost to start the season. I think at this point it’s obvious that Jakub Vrana has completely lapped him in terms of development, however I am still hopeful (maybe too hopeful) there is another level inside Burky that is just waiting to be unlocked. The Caps need their depth to start finding the score sheet and number 65 is one of their big depth scoring options.
• Is there a player in the league that Alex Ovechkin enjoys finishing a check on more than the Leafs Nazem Kadri? Maybe Geno Malkin? I challenge you to name some more in the comments.

Alex Ovechkin's big hit on Nazem Kadri pic.twitter.com/Sjua2R1pjQ

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) October 13, 2018

• The league needs more creative, outlandish celebrations just for the sole fact that it pisses Don Cherry‘s old, cantankerous ass off.
• Vamos United.
• Lars Eller had his stick held just before the Leafs third goal of the night. Pretty obviously too, bad zebras.

These are the biggest nachos I’ve ever seen #ALLCAPS @russianmachine pic.twitter.com/QOPQ9SvURm

— dlayphoto (@dlayphoto) October 13, 2018

• Caps slept walk through the first 15 minutes of the third period. That cost them the game after they had dominated the second period but couldn’t come out of it with a lead.
• Auston Matthews is going to score 900 goals alone this season. Reminder that he’s American and Maple Leafs fans secretly hate that he isn’t Canadian.

#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsLeafs It's a fuschia tie for Hockey Night in Washington pic.twitter.com/VnSmnPVifn

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) October 13, 2018

Next up for the Caps on Wednesday is their first date of the season with the New York Rangers. Handsome goalie duel incoming.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Leafs

Headline photo: Patrick Smith