Caps rally to rake Leafs, 4-3

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No two-goal lead is safe any longer.

The Toronto Maple Leafs held a 2-0 lead in the first period and promptly surrendered four straight goals in a 4-3 to the Capitals in Washington, DC.

The Caps scored three goals in the middle frame in a span of 78 seconds to stun the Leafs.

“We were way more aggressive there and we kept it simple,” Nicklas Backstrom (goal and assist) said. “That’s what you’ve got to do against teams like this. You’ve got to put pressure on them, and we did that. So that got us the chances we got.”

Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves to get the win.

“I have to tell you, tonight I wasn’t concerned when we were down 2-0,” Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said. “I thought they converted on a couple chances, but I had a good feeling about our team tonight. There was no panic, we stayed with our game, we built and built and built, shift after shift, and it was a matter of time.”

Kasperi Kapanen and Ilya Mikheyev scored in the first period to stake the Leafs to a 2-0 lead.

“It was disappointing because we thought we were set up pretty good, but the bottom line is we’ve got to find a way to play better in these back-to-backs,” Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said.

Jakub Vrana got the Caps started with a first period goal to make the score 2-1 heading to the second period.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Backstrom and John Carlson scored in the second period for a 4-2 Caps lead.

“I’m just getting lucky I think,” Carlson said. “Guys are making some good plays to me and you know, the guys I’m passing to are scoring right now. Especially as a [defenseman], I think it’s pretty streaky.”

John Tavares scored in the third period to tighten the score up.

“I thought we stayed with it even after we got down,” Tavares said. “Just kept working and we had chances.”

[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Capitals highlights]

Michael Hutchinson made 28 saves in the loss.

“We started well,” Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “Then there was a 10-12 minute span where we didn’t play our best. They capitalized and it made a big difference.”