Earlier today, Steve Dangle posted his LFR for Game Three. I don’t have the heart to describe it enthusiastically, but I kindly encourage you to watch it so you remember what winning is like.
Monday night the Caps fell 4-3 to the Leafs in Game Three of their first-round series. There is no silver lining on this one, no makeup for this pig. As the President’s Trophy winning team, the playoff-hardened Caps failed to meaningfully compete against a young and inexperienced squad that was in doubt to make the playoffs two weeks ago.
At 41.3 percent in five-on-five shot attempt, this game would’ve slotted in as the Caps fifth-worst possession game of the entire season. Other than a brief stretch in the second period when the Caps played fairly well and looked it too, the stats for this game were as bad as the team looked.
The series is 2-1. It’s still winnable. But it’s not winnable if the Caps continue to play like the less experienced, less structured, and less dangerous team.
By Nathan Sick 5 years ago
The Washington Capitals were outplayed by the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Three. Sunday, in a conference call with reporters, Barry Trotz made it sound like he was a step ahead of his counterpart.
“We’ll have a good game plan and the guys will be ready for tomorrow,” Trotz said to CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Tarik El-Bashir. Trotz added that he believed Mike Babcock would stay with the same matchups and the same strategies that the Leafs coach had utilized since the start of the series.
The Leafs did, but the Capitals, including Trotz, had few answers, getting out-attempted 71-52 (in all situations). After the game, CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Alan May criticized the Caps coaching staff on the postgame show, CSN Capitals Extra, for allowing their best player to be gamed into playing only two minutes and one second more than fourth-line winger Tom Wilson.
Here at RMNB, there have been many times after a Caps loss where we’ve argued that the team deserved to win or that they did a lot of things well despite an undesirable result. This is not one of those times.
The Caps deserved to lose Game Three. This series is not over, not by a long shot. But the path to victory just got harder after Monday’s deserved loss.
By Patrick Holden 5 years ago
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.
By Peter Hassett 5 years ago
Evgeny Kuznetsov was ice cold during last season’s playoffs, but he’s starting to warm up against the Leafs.
In the second period, Kuzy caught a nice rebound off Marcus Johansson’s shot to sink a goal from no angle.
Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby has never been afraid to leave the crease to stop a potential breakaway attempt. And Monday Night at Air Canada Centre, Braden got in a foot race with Mitch Marner… and won.
Holtby skated all the way out to the blue line to poke check the puck away. This is Holtby’s most insane, most audacious, most ridiculous poke check of his career.
Air Canada Centre was loud and rowdy early in Game Three as the Leafs played their first playoff game at home in like half a decade. The crowd’s noise levels were high, then Alex Ovechkin shut them up (briefly).
By Peter Hassett 5 years ago
Sixty-six seconds. That’s the total duration Nate Schmidt was on the ice in Game Three before he served Nicklas Backstrom a perfect pass to put the Caps up.
It was Washington’s first 4-on-4 goal of the entire season.
By Peter Hassett 5 years ago
Morning skate suggested it, but pregame warmups confirmed it: Karl Alzner is out, and Nate Schmidt is in.
Alzner had not missed a game since 2010.
By Peter Hassett 5 years ago
