New-look Maple Leafs come again for OT stunner in Washington

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With only some hours to work with, Craig Berube shuffled his card deck, conjured some new methods and ended up pulling two factors out of a hat. 

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Video nearly ruined the impact of Berube’s sleight of hand in opposition to the Washington Capitals, two Toronto targets overturned within the third interval, earlier than Mitch Marner scored on a 6-on-4 energy play in regulation earlier than John Tavares received it 4-3 in time beyond regulation for the Maple Leafs.

There have been modifications for the Leafs in objective all the way in which as much as the highest traces, the Leafs giving a much better effort than the dismal 3-0 loss at residence to Ottawa. They outshot the house staff to beat protection errors, Logan Thompson’s netminding and the journey issue with Tavares scoring on a breakaway.

Berube’s juggling included Tavares becoming a member of Marner and Bobby McMann with slumping Max Domi saved with Matthew Knies on his left, however getting one other fleet right-winger in William Nylander, who mixed with Knies on the second objective. 

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Toronto Marlies call-up Alex Steeves bumped Nick Robertson from the left wing on the third line with David Kampf shifting up from the fourth unit to centre, changed by Steven Lorentz. On defence, Jani Hakanpaa seemed efficient in his preliminary Leafs recreation and first actual look since injuring his knee final March with Dallas, partnered with Morgan Rielly.

Any jet lag on the Leafs’ half was examined when the primary 6:42 of the sport zipped by with out a whistle. Lorentz, Connor Dewar and the diggers thought they’d made it a one-goal recreation midway by the third interval, however after two video calls their method, it was dominated Lorentz made a kicking movement along with his leg. 

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Knies had one other taken away by a excessive stick, however a blade that gave the impression to be beneath the bar. 

Domi lastly had a puck go in, however on the improper finish, a fluke objective by Washington’s Taylor Raddysh. As Domi tried to get again and canopy a Caps rush to the online, Raddysh’s centring move hit his skate and beat Joseph Woll. Domi earned himself a second-period breakaway, however couldn’t elevate his shot sufficient on Thompson’s glove facet, leaving him in a career-worst 12-game pointless streak. That’s regardless of a prime-time position within the injured Auston Matthews’ absence. 

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Washington, the NHL chief in 5-on-5 targets because the Leafs have had few within the wake of power-play success and stress on defence, added one other after Tavares fed McMann to make it 1-1. They received puck pursuit in a late first-period press, capped by Aliaksei Protas discovering Dylan Strome, each persevering with robust play as Alex Ovechkin’s setup males. The 39-year-old Ovechkin has been prolific recently, however didn’t get any nearer to Wayne Gretzky’s NHL objective file, nonetheless at Gretzky’s 894 to Ovie’s 863. 

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The Caps thought they have been up two within the center interval when John Carlson blasted one by a display, however Berube received his first problem of the 12 months when his video crew detected Nic Dowd had infringed on Woll within the blue paint. Later, a high-sticking double minor to Knies got here off the board when the officers checked and located it was incidental arm contact.

Washington coach Spencer Carbery was naturally fairly peeved, however his facet went up by two anyway when Jake McCabe fanned on a puck deep within the Caps’ zone, resulting in an odd-man rush. McCabe and the scrambling Leafs focused on Ovechkin who slid the puck to an unguarded Protas. 

Toronto should now should prep for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby 

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