Toronto Maple Leafs 2, Caps 1
Bruce Boudreau said this wouldn’t be an easy game and he was right. The Caps just didn’t have much jump for the first 30 minutes or so. They got an early goal from Alex Ovechkin and were completely outplayed in the second period. Goalie Semyon Varlamov was excellent and kept his team in front until a puck banged off Toronto’s Niklas Hagman late in that period to tie the game at 1.
Washington played harder in the third period and rang the post twice – first Eric Fehr and then Brian Pothier. But it couldn’t squeeze one past Vesa Toskala, who finished with 31 saves. Varlamov had 38 saves as the Leafs threw all kinds of pucks his way. Toronto probably should have won the game late in overtime, too, as Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green and Ovechkin all got caught deep in their own zone on a long shift (just shy of 90 seconds). Toronto couldn’t finish, though, and had to win it in the shootout. Phil Kessel beat Varlamov off the bat and neither Fehr (broken stick) nor Ovechkin (rolling puck) could score. Hagman finally put the game away with his shootout goal.
Caps (13-5-5, 31 points) still have most points in the Eastern Conference. But they aren’t going to be happy with this weekend. Losing at home to Montreal and grabbing just one point against the worst team in the conference isn’t good. Then again – they are missing seven regulars and they were playing the second game of a back-to-back. Not an excuse. They still need to beat a team struggling as bad as the Leafs are. But those are still the facts. I have a feeling an effort like this on Monday night in Ottawa, though, would lead to a 5-1 beatdown. The Senators are actually playing pretty well with three wins in a row and 11 points in their last eight games. They beat Buffalo on Saturday night, 5-3.
In case you’re wondering – forward Andrew Gordon, a callup from Hershey, did not play in the third period. No word of an injury. I’m assuming this is just a tired rookie in over his head as Boudreau shortened his bench. Gordon did play last night in Binghamton, NY, took a bus back to Hershey and then drove to Philadelphia, where he caught a flight to Toronto. That’s pretty much not ideal. Rookie defenseman John Carlson played just three shifts in the third period and sat out in OT. Mike Green played a game-high 31:38. Jeff Schultz (22:20), Pothier (21:33) and John Erskine (20:41) logged most of the minutes among the defensemen.
