In Washington, DC, the chasers of records were on display on Wednesday night. 
Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of goals for the Capitals, and Toronto’s Auston Matthews hit for a double in a 7-3 for the Maple Leafs.
Matthews opened the game with a strike at the 16 second mark of the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead to the Leafs. It was his 56th of the campaign, scoring off a pass from Max Dome.
“He’s such a smart player out there,” Matthews said of Domi. “He makes the game easy, he can make plays, he moves spatially well and just communicates a lot out there, so it just makes it easier on myself and [Tyler Bertuzzi] to move into space and try to find each other. Really liked the chemistry tonight.”
Matthews also picked up three assists in the win.
“Obviously we have zero answer for [Matthews] tonight. So that’s an issue,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “Even though for the most part I thought we did a lot of good things, we just had some isolated incidents that were uncharacteristic and just can’t happen this time of year.”
Joseph Woll made 18 saves in the win.
The Maple Leafs moved to 39-20-9, snapping a two-game skid.
In the middle frame, William Nylander pushed the lead to 2-0 with 56 seconds gone in the period, scoring off a shot from the right side.
Ovechkin potted his first midway through the second, scoring off the power play for a 2-1 score.
Matthews collected his double at 12:59 for a 3-1 lead to the Maple Leafs.
“It’s just the response from the next line going out and just trying to set the tone and get the momentum back on our side,” Matthews said. “It’s really as simple as that, and when they did close the gap we had a response, which was a good thing to see. We just want to carry that over. These games get more and more important through the stretch.”
The Caps’ Connor McMichael trimmed the deficit to 3-2 on a marker at 13:34.
The Maple Leafs sent the game to the third period with a 4-2 when Domi scored off a deflection with 15 seconds left in the period.
“As soon as we get closer to them, they find a way to add to the lead,” Ovechkin said. “It’s frustrating.”
The Capitals dropped to 33-26-9, snapping a three-game streak. A win would have pushed the Caps into the second wild card spot in the east.
In the third period, Ovechkin picked up his double to get the Caps within one, 4-3, when he scored at 6:42.
Toronto iced the game with a strike by Bobby McMann at 7:58 for a 5-3 lead.
“I like that we faced adversity throughout,” McCann said. “They would score and we’d get one back right away and we weren’t really fazed by it. We were just kind of playing our game and sticking with it.”
John Tavares sealed the win when he hit off a power play at 16:02 for the 7-3 final count on the scoreboard.
“We’ve been playing really good hockey lately and I think this is going to be a one-off for our group,” McMichael said. “We’re still in the fight and we know how close we are, so I’m sure we’re going to respond.”
Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves in the loss..
You must be logged in to post a comment.