Caps Fall Flat, Lose to Leafs 4-2

The Toronto Maple Leafs scored early in all three periods and added a fourth goal in the latter half of the third frame to roll to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night at Air Canada Centre.

That final score was not indicative of how much the Caps were outplayed in the game. Only a handful of excellent saves from Washington netminder Braden Holtby prevented the Capitals from a much more lopsided defeat at the hands of the upstart Leafs, who ended a three-game slide with Saturday's victory.

"We didn't look like the Washington Capitals out there at all," says Holtby. "I think we got embarrassed by a young team. That's not acceptable in our culture here. We have to be better, every one of us. It was embarrassing."

After scoring first in 17 of their first 20 games this season, the Caps quickly fell behind on Saturday night in Toronto. They've made teams chase them almost routinely this season, but this was a night on which the Caps would do the chasing, all of it in vain.

Matt Martin came off the Leafs bench and snuck behind the Caps' defensive duo of Dmitry Orlov and John Carlson. Leafs rookie Mitch Marner spotted Martin and hit him with a tape-to-tape, blueline-to-blueline pass, springing Martin on a breakaway. Martin did the rest, beating Holtby for a 1-0 Toronto lead just 2:35 into the game.

Washington spent much of the rest of the first period killing penalties. The Caps took three minors in a span of nine and a half minutes, and they managed to kill off all three while surrendering only three shots on net. But Washington generated next to nothing in the way of puck possession, offensive zone time or scoring chances. They were fortunate to escape the first 20 minutes with a deficit of just a single goal.

Early in the second period, the Capitals went shorthanded for a fourth straight time, and Toronto finally cashed in. Holtby stopped Nikita Soshnikov's shot from in tight, but James van Riemsdyk was parked and unmarked at the top of the paint near the right post. He was able to calmly chip the rebound over Holtby for a 2-0 Leafs lead at 3:28 of the second period.

Three consecutive Capitals power play chances over a span of six minutes and 19 seconds gave Washington a chance to climb back into the game. That sequence produced 24 seconds worth of two-man advantage time for the Capitals, but they weren't able to muster much in the way of a serious threat on those power plays.

"Second period, we had a couple of defining moments, too," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "We had a short five-on-three and that could have been a big moment for us where we could have jumped back into that game, but we didn't."

Despite playing poorly for 40 minutes, the Caps were only down two goals heading into the third. But that was true for less than half a minute.

Toronto came out firing in the third. Holtby made a great save on Zach Hyman from the slot, and he stopped Matt Hunwick's blast from the point, too. But Auston Matthews was right there for the loose change, and he put the rebound of Hunwick's shot behind Holtby to extend the Toronto lead to 3-0 just 22 seconds into the third period.

Washington was finally able to solve Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen at 9:30 of the third when Nicklas Backstrom scored an unassisted goal off a goalmouth scramble.

Instead of mounting a push to close the gap, the Caps quickly gave that one back. A mere 140 seconds after Backstrom's goal, Nazem Kadri scored to make it 4-1 for the Leafs. Kadri won a draw in his own end of the ice and scored nine seconds later, beating the Washington defense and then Holtby with 8:10 remaining in the game.

"We still thought after two periods that if we have a real good push on, we can get it a little closer," says Trotz. "And then the first shift [of the third] we give up a goal and then we give up one [later]. The fourth one was off a face-off, just lost the battle. One-on-three it ended up being, and just too many battles lost."

Marcus Johansson's ninth goal of the season came at 16:44 and had the effect of making the final score look more respectable than it probably was.

"The first period we were a little bit lethargic, if you will," says Trotz. "We weren't very detailed, we lost too many battles, turned too many pucks over and took too many penalties. I thought we were fortunate to be down just that one puck after the first period. Holts was able to keep us in it, then we gave up a couple of other goals - untimely goals for us - when we were trying to find a way to get back in the game."

Washington also lost defenseman Matt Niskanen to a lower body injury early in the third period. The Capitals return to the District immediately after Saturday's game, and Niskanen will be further evaluated then.

"It wasn't one of our better efforts," says Trotz. "I think our urgency at the start of the game wasn't there. Maybe a little bit of fatigue when we got down to five [defensemen], and the schedule might have got us a little bit. But no excuse. We still weren't detailed enough and our compete level in some areas wasn't good enough. We'll just say that three games in four nights and American Thanksgiving took a little edge off us. We'll just leave it at that."

It wasn't all on the Caps, though. The Leafs played a strong game from start to finish, and a Toronto team that has had trouble keeping leads managed to close this one out without much residual drama.

"I'm impressed with Toronto," says Trotz. "They came out well prepared and they battled hard. They won a lot of those battles that you need to win to win hockey games."
Early Goals Are Daggers - Despite allowing an early goal in the first period on a Matt Martin breakaway, despite taking three minor penalties in the first period and despite being outplayed for the better part of the game's first 20 minutes, the Washington Capitals went into the second period of Saturday night's game against the Leafs in Toronto down just a goal, at 1-0.

During the two-plus years of the Barry Trotz administration in DC, the Caps have shown the ability to rebound on the fly, and to erase deeper deficits against more formidable foes. And the upstart Leafs were coming off a game in which they allowed a 3-0 first-period advantage turn into a 5-4 shootout loss to the Devils in New Jersey.

But Washington's second period was more of the same. Toronto scored another early goal - this one on its fourth power play of the night - and the Caps came up empty on three extra man chances of their own in the second, including a 24-second stretch of five-on-three. The Caps went into the third down two goals, but still far from defeated.

Once again though, the Caps yielded a quick goal to start the third. Auston Matthews scored on a rebound just 22 seconds into the third and even though Washington finally managed to break the ice against Toronto netminder Frederik Andersen later in the game, Matthews' marker held up as the game-winner in a 4-2 Toronto win.

"They played very well tonight but I think we didn't have the jump right away," says Caps captain Alex Ovechkin. "We had three penalty kills in the first and kind of gave them momentum. Obviously, we didn't give up. We tried to bounce back in the game, but the first goal they scored right away in the third kind of stopped us a little bit."

Five-on-five scoring and both special teams have been inconsistent for the Capitals through the first quarter of the 2016-17 season. Washington has been able to rely on solid goaltending night in and night out, regardless of whether Braden Holtby or Philipp Grubauer is in goal, and that's a primary reason the Caps entered Saturday's slate of NHL action with the league's third best record, in terms of points percentage.

That was the case on Saturday, too. If not for Holtby, the Caps might have been down 3-0 or 4-0 after the first period of the game against the Leafs. But more than just goaltending is required to win on most nights in the NHL, and Washington - playing its second game in as many nights - didn't have any of that.

"Between periods, Barry was trying to get us going and we didn't do it as a group," says Holtby. "You look [at it and] all night [the Leafs] had two or three options on every play. And that's usually our strength is guys doing their job, working for others.

"We didn't work for each other at all tonight. And on back-to-backs, those are the ones where you have to grind it out. We're going to have to work harder, we're going to have to be more mentally prepared. I think we played spoiled tonight."

Four nights from now, the Caps will play their next game, hosting the New York Islanders at Verizon Center on Thursday. Between now and then, they'll have three days of practice at Ketter Capitals Iceplex.

"I think we need to get to work in practice," says Holtby, "get in better shape, get working harder and realize that it's not easy just because we had success last year. Tonight, a young lineup like [the Leafs have] - and not taking anything away from them and their skill - but if we want to be a top team in the league we need to have a veteran presence. We need to have our top guys working, and we're going to have to work on it."

Heat Source - Caps forward Marcus Johansson netted his ninth goal of the season in the Caps' 21st game on Saturday, marking the earliest he has reached the nine-goal level in his NHL career.

When Johansson scored a single-season career best 20 goals for Washington in 2014-15, he notched his ninth goal of the season in the Capitals' 22nd game of the season.

Down A Man - Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen left Saturday's game early in the third period with a lower body injury. Niskanen has played in 185 consecutive games since joining the Capitals, and he ranks second on the team with an average of 22:18 per night in ice time this season.

Hopefully, the four-day break between games will be sufficient to get Niskanen healed. Team doctors will evaluate the sturdy defenseman and more news should be available on his condition at Washington's Monday practice.

A Mere Flesh Wound - Trotz was nicked on the forehead with a puck just five seconds into Saturday's game against the Leafs. He stayed upright and stayed behind the bench throughout the game, and a small butterfly bandage was applied to the visible cut in the middle of his forehead.

Asked after the game how he was feeling after being bonked by a puck, Trotz deadpanned, "What puck?"

There was no immediate word available as to the condition of the puck.

The Kids Are All Right - The Caps got their first look at Matthews, the league's first overall pick in the 2016 draft, and talented Toronto forward Mitch Marner, the team's first choice (fourth overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft.

Matthews scored his ninth goal of the season and the first game-winning goal of his NHL career and Marner supplied a pair of assists, including a beautiful primary setup on Martin's goal in the first period. Marner sprung Martin with a tape-to-tape, blueline-to-blueline pass to give the Leafs a lead they would never relinquish.

With Marner's two-point night, he is now tied for the league lead (with Winnipeg's Patrik Laine) in scoring among rookies with seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points. Matthews is third in that race with 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) and Toronto freshman William Nylander - who sat out Saturday's game against Washington - is fifth with 15 points (six goals, nine assists).

Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were home on Saturday night, hosting the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Bears eked out a 4-3 win for the 100th victory of coach Troy Mann's tenure in Chocolatetown.

With help from Christian Thomas and Liam O'Brien, Travis Boyd scored his third goal of the season at 2:03 of the first to lift Hershey to an early 1-0 lead. Just under six minutes later, Chandler Stephenson notched his second of the campaign on a Hershey power play, Colby Williams and Brad Malone assisting.

Thomas tallied for the ninth time in 2016-17 at 1:33 of the second to make it a 3-0 game, Chris Bourque and Malone assisting. The Thunderbirds scored twice in the second to make it a 3-2 game going into the third, but Boyd's second of the night came at 3:49 of the third and proved to be the game-winner. Jakub Vrana and O'Brien collected helpers on Boyd's second goal of the contest.

Vitek Vanecek made 16 saves in the Hershey nets to improve to 5-3-1 on the season.

The 11-4-3-1 Bears are now idle until Friday when they travel to Lehigh Valley to face the Phantoms.

Down a level, the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays administered a 5-1 lashing to the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday night at North Charleston Coliseum.

After the two sides skated through 40 scoreless minutes of play, Norfolk took a 1-0 lead at 1:38 of the third. Then the Stingrays scored five unanswered goals in a span of less than 13 minutes to coast to a victory. Steven McParland, Joe Devin, Scott Tanski, Steve Weinstein and Alex Gacek scored for the Stingrays, supporting the 26-save efforts of Parker Milner in the South Carolina nets.

The 7-7-1 Stingrays are back in action on Sunday afternoon, facing the Gladiators in Atlanta.

By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Caps with 25:41 in ice time on Saturday, the highest single-game ice time total for any Washington skater thus far this season … Nate Schmidt led the Caps with five shots on goal, and Carlson led Washington with 15 shot attempts, getting four on goal … Niskanen, Ovechkin and Brooks Orpik led the Caps with four hits each … Orpik led the Caps with two blocked shots … Washington won 41 of 67 face-offs (61%) on the night. Jay Beagle won 11 of 14 draws (79%) and Lars Eller won eight of 12 (67%).