LEAFS SHOW RESOLVE

After that odd 10-7 win by the Leafs on Saturday, you kind of had to wonder which team would show up tonight in Washinton.  This was the first game between these 2 teams since October 2019 and oddly, Sheldon Keefe’s first ever against the Capitals.

Just 2:35 seconds in, Michael Bunting roofed a feed from Marner to take the lead.  That was his 19^th of the season and 9^th consecutive road game goal.  Selke voters should take note of Austin Mathews’ goal line rescue to scoop the puck out from behind Petr Mrazek. 

The Caps have been on a pretty middling streak lately, going 3 and 5 in their last 8.  Backstrom snapped a bullet from the blueline where Connor Sheary tipped it in to tie it with 4 minutes left.  Not to be outdone, Toronto came back with 2 late goals.  The first from William Nylander (21st) off a hard work feed from John Tavares and then a scramble goalmouth bang in from Justin Holl with just 1.6 seconds left.

One similarity to Saturday night was the Leafs opposing goalie, (Ilya Samsonov) was replaced after one.  Goaltending has become an issue for the Capitals of late.  Replacement Vitek Vanecek has been out with concussion protocol all month and the GAA is starting to rise.  Could Washington be in on the Marc Andre Fluery sweepstakes ?  Even the Caps powerplay has been maligned lately, ranking 28^th.  They did get one goal on their second man advantage to make it 3-2.  This was after Alex Ovechkin peppered Mrazek with 3 howitzers.  He finally held off and sent in a nice set up for Tom Wilson to tip in.

The aforementioned Wilson can be quite the agitator.  Not only did he tie the game up at threes on a shorty, but he laid waste any number of Toronto players in a 4 or 5 minute rampage.  He just man handled Captain John and not one Toronto player came to his aid.  Tavares got his revenge later in the period with a relentless forecheck, a beauty of a back pass to a rejuvenated Holl who sent it across the crease to a waiting Rasmus Sandin and a yawning cage for the winning goal.  Pierre Engvall used his speed to slide in the empty netter for a 5-3 final.

HOPPER NOTES:  Welcome back Kerfoot, Michaev and Holl – we’ve missed you lately…kinda feel bad for Morgan Rielly these past 2 games – while babysitting Liljgren, he has not been his usual dominant self…even though Tavares is in a horrible 12 game goal scoring slump, he has had 10 assists over that same time period…will some media agency please tell Dejardins Insurance to stop with the overkill ! The Leafs PP was a little off tonight – 4 attempts, no shots…during the “rampage” I spoke of earlier, the Leafs were just “gooned” with hit after hit…they can’t leave it all up to Wayne Simmonds – they’ve got to toughen up before playoff time…The Leafs end February with a 7-4-1 record, the Caps 4 and 6.

CHEERS – Discuss !