Maple Leafs look to ramp up pressure on Capitals

Washington’s third pairing of Kevin Shattenkirk and Brooks Orpik isn’t exactly weak, but more shifts against lesser competition (including their third and fourth lines) might just help Matthews emerge.

In Game 3 of the playoff series between the Washington Capitals and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Capitals finally managed several important firsts. Defensively, the Toronto Maple Leafs are allowing 2.9 goals per game and are killing 82.5 percent of their opponents power plays. Toronto Maple Leafs fans watch the broadcast of the team’s opening NHL hockey playoff game against the Washington Capitals, at Maple Leaf Square in Toronto on Thursday, April 13, 2017.

“I feel better every day”, Zaitsev said after the morning skate. I think we can get a little more movement. The Leafs took Game 3 shortly into the first OT with a well-placed redirection from Tyler Bozak. “It doesn’t matter, playoffs or regular season”.

“It’s a good feeling”, Bozak said.

The Capitals got the early jump as they scored twice in the first five minutes with both goals coming from their vaunted top line of Ovechkin, Backstrom and T.J. Oshie.

The turning point came during a full, two-minute 5-on-3 power play in the second period for the Caps – leading 3-1 at the time – when they failed to connect on several scoring chances.

Schmidt hasn’t played much with Carlson this season but has worked with him in the past. The 23-year-old first stopped Morgan Rielly’s shot from sneaking across the goal-line and then raced to the other end to deflect an innocent Lars Eller shot. The Leafs power play is operating at only 16% and their penalty kill is the worst in the playoffs at 62%, the second lowest is 72% for Calgary. Is Toronto, a team that finished with three fewer points than the second-best team in the Atlantic Division, really an underdog?

Mike Babcock doesn’t think fatigue will be an issue as the series continues. “That’s why you acquire depth during the year”. I thought, territorially, they controlled the play a lot.

Babcock primarily used a four-man rotation after the veteran defenceman went down. “They haven’t had a playoff game in a while”, Orpik said. Need an example? Head coach Barry Trotz had several of them – in overtime alone. We’ve got good energy and we’ve got depth. If they can handle it, there might be no better teaching atmosphere for a young team than the game’s most dramatic stage. This was the 11th game decided in overtime through the first 22 of the playoffs.

Star forward Alex Ovechkin didn’t sound anxious after Monday’s loss, but he also didn’t sound convincing about his team’s chances in the series, either. Washington still has time to turn things around, but its margin for error shrinks with each loss. You can’t play dirty, but when you have a good hit, it’s fun. “It’s no different than what they went through the other night”. No. 1 overall pick Auston Matthews led the way by playing in all 82 games and ranking second in the league with 40 goals scored.

He came up short again on the Caps second goal, giving just a little too much room to Ovechkin, whose slap shot beat Andersen high from the left faceoff circle.

The Maple Leafs scored the final two goals of the second period to send the game to the third period tied at 3. Obviously, a real unfortunate situation for Roman.

During Games 1 and 2, the Capitals split duties against the likely Calder Trophy victor between their top pair of John Carlson and Karl Alzner and the secondary duo of Matt Niskanen and Dmitry Orlov. “It’s not about hanging on and trying to squeak one out, it’s about controlling the play and being in the driver’s seat and going out there and winning the game”.