Tyler Graovac received a jersey Tuesday night in place of Lars Eller who felt under the weather.
Graovac would only take seven shifts and receive 3:19 of ice time before being felled by what the team called an upper body injury.
Late in the third period with the Capitals down 1-0, Jakub Vrana ripped off William Nylander and had the game-tying goal on his stick.
Instead, Vrana, who had goals in two straight games, was bested twice by Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen.
The Maple Leafs came to town to battle the Caps for the first time since the guys in red disposed of them in the playoffs last spring. What an uneventful game, eh?
The Caps fought off an early push from the Leafs and managed to push back as the period went on, but the first ended 0-0.
Second period scoring? Nope. Still 0-0 after two.
Connor Brown finally got the first goal of the game a little over five minutes into the third to put the Leafs up 1-0. Nazem Kadri added an empty net goal to ice the game.
Leafs beat Caps 2-0.
By Patrick Holden 6 years ago
The last time the Washington Capitals and the Toronto Maple Leafs faced-off, they played in an epic first-round series during the 2017 playoffs. The veteran Capitals, led by one of the greatest goalscorers of all time and victors of the Presidents’ Trophy, barely squeaked by the up-and-coming Leafs featuring Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and that tiny guy who can skate fast and wears jorts.
With a summer and training camp behind them, the Leafs will now test how much they’ve improved against a Capitals team that is missing three veteran defensemen from last year’s playoff run (Kevin Shattenkirk, Karl Alzner, and Nate Schmidt). Featuring a blue line that features Chrstian Djoos, Madison Bowey, and Aaron Ness, the Capitals gave up eight goals Saturday against the Flyers.
The game should be entertaining, one way or another, so we hope you tune it to NBC Washington at 7 PM for the game, and Mr. Patrick Holden will have your recap.
By Elyse Bailey 6 years ago
