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Leafs beat Caps 4-3 (SO) and Alex Ovechkin is injured

By Peter Hassett

 3 Comments

April 24, 2022 10:00 pm

The Washington Capitals played a very good game against a very good team in the Toronto Maple Leafs. But no one is going to remember this one as the “Caps played good against the Leafs” game. This is the Caps-blew-a-big-lead and Alex-got-hurt game.

TJ Oshie started scoring by positively roofing the puck after a nice setup pass from Mantha. Ilya Lyubushkin tied the game with just his second goal of the season.

Alex Ovechkin left the game in the third period due to injury. The Caps took a 2-1 lead as Fehervary threaded a nice pass for Lars Eller to deflect. Marcus Johansson extended the lead with a give-and-go sequence assisted by Sheary. Ilya Mikheyev beat Vanecek through the five-hole to make it a one-goal game with seven minutes left. During six-on-five play, Jason Spezza tied the game, pushing us into overtime, which gave us no decision.

This game has me so cranky that I don’t want to do shootout bullets, but my dedication to the bit is an ironclad contract.

  • Kuznetsov put the biscuit in the basket with the slow-skating move
  • Spezza put the biscuit in the basket off the crossbar
  • Backstrom did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Matthews did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Oshie did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Nylander did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Mantha did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Mikheyev did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Carlson did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Marner did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Our son Marcus did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Engvall did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • van Riemsdyk did not put the biscuit in the basket
  • Kerfoot put the biscuit in the basket

Caps lose.

  • I loved Washington’s performance during five-on-five in this one. Toronto has been a very strong team since the deadline, but Washington outplayed them.
  • The big stars here were the fourth line of Johan Larsson, Nic Dowd, and Garnet Hathaway. They effectively shut down the Matthews line. They were magnificent. The image below is from through two periods.

https://twitter.com/peterhassett/status/1518395344543010816

  • In the first period, Alex Ovechkin blocked a Giordano shot with his foot. Didn’t miss a shift, natch. I’m not sure he took off his skates between periods though; might not have been able to squeeze them back on. That was the cute Ovi non-injury. Stand by for something less cute.
  • Two goals were called back in this one, both power-play goals. The first was from Jason Spezza due to offside. The second was TJ Oshie tipping in Ovechkin’s shot due to a hand pass. The hand pass kinda seemed to me like a puck hit Carlson’s hand, but apparently “missed game stoppages” are a thing. Seems to me like there’s an important difference between missed calls that gave the attacking team an advantage and technicalities.
  • In the third period, Alex Ovechkin got a breakaway chance. He was tripped by Leafs goalie Erik Kallgren and then crashed into the boards. Down on the ice, Ovechkin held his arm then retreated to the dressing room. He did not return. The Capitals say he has an upper-body injury. This is very distressing news. I’m not gonna speculate, but I will say that was an egregious trip from Kallgren.
  • Giving up two sloppy goals late, Vitek Vanecek missed his chance to lock down the number-one goalie slot for the six billionth time. Everyone is so over the goalie drama.
  • The ESPN+ coverage was very poor. Emily Kaplan was good when she was permitted to speak.

No Joe B tonight, but here’s two Lockers.

This sucked. That missed point will be a big deal.

Isles on Tuesday.

Man, I just hope Ovi is okay.

Headline photo: @hannahverde

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