The Washington Capitals got out-skilled by the Toronto Maple Leafs in Wednesday night’s matchup. It was fun for a bit though, and the big guy got two.
Auston Matthews let all of 16 seconds pass before he got on the scoreboard, the goal positively gift-wrapped for him by the Caps defense. In the second period, and again early on, William Nylander fired a perfect shot on a perfect play to make it 2-0 Leafs. Alex Ovechkin got the Caps going with an Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot, but Matthews’ second goal of the night followed three minutes later with a sneaky wristshot. Connor McMichael scored from a negative angle to bring the Caps within one, but Jake McCabe tipped a shot to restore Toronto’s two-goal lead after two periods.
Alex Ovechkin notched his second goal of the night in the third period after a great play by Dylan Strome, but Bobby McMann beat Charlie Lindgren with a tap-in to keep the Leafs up two goals, and it only grew from there. Tyler Bertuzzi scored on a deft flip to enter us into blowout territory. John Tavares made it 7-3 on a late-game power play. I thought seven was a touchdown, but apparently a touchdown is just six.
Caps lose.
- The Caps don’t lose small. If they’re gonna go down, they’re gonna get their backs blown out. I respect it.
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 22nd goal and 23rd goals of the season, the 844th and 845th of his career, bringing him 49 goals shy of Gretzky. The first one was a classic Ovi power-play goal, with a brilliant pass – after some patience – from John Carlson, whom I will now excoriate for that first shift.
Alexander Ovechkin from his office scores goal No. 844 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/erOVeegZYO
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 21, 2024
- John, that was a very poor first shift. John, you made it very easy for Auston Matthews to score. I’m very cross with you, John.
- Speaking of: Matthews briefly had a hat trick until video coach Emily Engel-Natzke caught a Leaf offside. Heroic effort.
- Back to Ovi: I don’t know what this means, but Ovechkin’s pace since the new year would have had him above 40 goals in a full season. He played a lot of this game apart from Dylan Strome, but that second goal owed a heckuva lot to Strome’s patience in making the pass.
- There was a moment of silence for Chris Simon. I’ll talk more about that tomorrow.
- Not Charlie’s night.
- Despite giving up early goals in the first two periods, I actually liked Washington’s play in those first two periods. Until late in the second, the Caps were on attack more often. The Leafs were playing tired, but maybe top-tier scoring talent doesn’t get tired.
- It was Pride Night at Capital One Arena. Pride is necessary because in the past its absence meant shame and oppression and death. In an imaginary universe where history didn’t happen, then maybe all that would be asked of you is benign indifference when the people around you live actualized lives, but that’s not the world we live in. So we say be yourself, and we celebrate the people around us for whom doing that requires bravery. I wish it didn’t, and maybe one day it won’t. This is how we get there. 🏳️🌈
Spencer Carbery is wearing a Weagle pin with Pride colors during the game 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/6VU4CTwBhh
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 20, 2024
Time for my twice-daily check-the-loffs-projection ritual. According to HockeyViz, tonight’s loss bring the Caps down 10 percentage points, to around 42 percent. It ain’t over, but this was a major setback. The rest of the month is still brutal: Carolina, Winnipeg, Detroit, Toronto again, Boston. Full steam ahead.
