With a much better effort than in Tampa Bay, the Maple Leafs took a point but fell 3-2 in overtime against the Florida Panthers last night. Now, in the second half of a straight game, they continue their quest to earn home-field advantage in the first round when they take on the Capitals tonight in Washington (7 pm EST, Sportsnet Ontario).
Coming off a brutal 8-1 loss on Thursday night, the Leafs achieved their goal of putting together a “turnaround” effort against the Panthers on Saturday. They went toe-to-toe with the hot favorites for the President’s Trophy, and more troubling than the lost point in overtime is Michael Bunting’s injury with the start of the playoffs just eight or nine days away.
Still, the Leafs look to avoid turning a problem into a losing streak in the final week of the season tonight when they take on the Capitals. Washington comes into this game riding a four-game scoring streak and winners in three of those four games since a 7-3 loss to the Leafs on April 14.
The Capitals now have 99 points on the season, just two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the third seed in the Metropolitan Division. They will be eager to get past the Penguins in the final week knowing that a first-round matchup against the Rangers is a much more attractive proposition than a first-round matchup against the Panthers.
The first hurdle in their path, though, is a Leafs team they’ve struggled against this season. During the first meeting on February 28, Michael Bunting opened the scoring and the Capitals fell behind 3-1 after the first half. Washington managed to get back into the game after trading Ilya Samsonov for Vitek Vanecek in goal, but Rasmus Sandin pushed the Leafs over the top in the closing minutes of the third.
In the most recent matchup just over a week ago, the Capitals also fell behind thanks to an early count by Bunting. John Carlson scored midway through the second to cut the lead to 2-1, but the Leafs responded just 13 seconds later to reclaim a multi-goal lead and then scored 18 seconds after that to put the game out of reach. The final score was lopsided (7-3), with Samsonov once again ejected from the game.
The Leafs would certainly like to build on that April 14 performance tonight, but this time they’ll need someone other than Bunting to score their first goal of the game. Fortunately, Auston Matthews returned from injury last night and made his presence felt with a team-high seven shots on goal as well as seven high-risk goal opportunities in five against five. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the back of the net, which means the search for 60 goals is coming to an end.
Due to Bunting’s injury, the lineup will receive another shakeup, but the exact combinations will remain unknown until the lineup rushes through warmups. We know that one of Jason Spezza or Nick Abruzzese will have to back down, presumably in the fourth line. After Bunting’s fall, William Nylander moved up to the top lane to good effect, so it stands to reason that Keefe could attempt that “power lane” for a full 60 minutes tonight.
In the second half of two straight games, Erik Källgren will take the lead at net for the Leafs. Ideally, the team will be motivated to play a better game against him after they blew him out Thursday at Tampa. Källgren is one injury away from taking over as the starter in the playoffs, so it would be beneficial if he felt good about his game in the final week.
The Capitals will give the nod to Vanacek, who has won his last three starts, including a 19-save shutout against the Coyotes on Friday night. Vanecek enters the game with a 20-11-5 record, a .910 save percentage and a 2.6 goals-against average.
First Round Opponent Odds
game day quotes
Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette on putting together a better effort than his last loss against the Leafs:
We don’t like how the last game went. It’s the only one on the road trip that sucked. We have to be better than that. The boys know it too.
It’s a great game for many different reasons. That influences a bit too.
Laviolette on what makes Auston Matthews so dangerous as a goalscorer:
He finds space. It is liberation from him; he has an incredible release. He finds small areas and large goal areas. He’s not on the perimeter somewhere. He finds them in the slot; he finds them in the house.
Really smart player, but his shooting and shooting is something.
Nick Jensen on the matchup against the Leafs:
The last time we played these guys, they dominated us in our d zone. I remember playing a lot of defense, and it took a lot of energy out of my game. We need to find ways to stop them, stop the puck, outnumber them, and then move across the ice as a group. I think it’s going to be one of the most important things.
They have a lot of fast guys on their team so it’s about managing how and where they get their speed and making sure they don’t get behind us or beat us at our net.
Evgeny Kuznetsov on making a better effort than in the last game against the Leafs:
The last game didn’t go well, so you know we have to regroup. Sometimes you’re going to give up games like that, and sometimes you generate a lot but you can’t score. It’s not something I really focused on. It’s just about how we respond and how we’re going to play. [tonight].
Sheldon Keefe on William Nylander’s play in Michael Bunting’s place in the Matthews line last night:
I thought it was good. Those guys haven’t played much together other than an odd turn here and there. It’s probably the most they’ve ever played together consistently. We take a look at that.
I thought those guys were good. They had a lot of disc. They played a lot on their half of the ice.
Projected lines of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Forward
#88 William Nylander – #34 Auston Matthews – #16 Mitch Marner
#65 Ilya Mikheyev – #91 John Tavares – #15 Alex Kerfoot
#47 Pierre Engvall – #64 David Kampf – #11 Colin Blackwell
#43 Kyle Clifford – #19 Jason Spezza – #24 Wayne Simmonds
defenders
#44 Morgan Rielly – #46 Ilya Lyubushkin
#78 TJ Brodie – #3 Justin Holl
#55 Mark Giordano – #37 Timothy Liljegren
goalkeepers
Starter: #36 Jack Campbell
#50 Erik Kallgren
Additional features: Nick Abruzzese, Carl Dahlstrom
Injured: Jake Muzzin Michael Bunting
LTIR: Ondrej Kase, Rasmus Sandin, Petr Mrazek
Projected lines of Washington’s capitals
Forward
#8 Alex Ovechkin – #92 Evgeny Kuznetsov – #43 Tom Wilson
#90 Marcus Johansson – #19 Nick Backstrom – #73 Conor Sheary
#39 Anthony Mantha – #20 Lars Eller – #77 TJ Oshie
#22 Johan Larsson – #26 Nic Dowd – #21 Garnet Hathaway
defenders
#42 Martin Fehervary – #74 John Carlson
#9 Dmitri Orlov – #3 Nick Jensen
#57 Trevor Van Riemsdyk – #2 justin schultz
goalkeepers
Starter: #41 Vitek Vanecek
#30 Ilya Samsonov
Injured: Carl Haglin Joe Snively
Reference-mapleleafshotstove.com